From Ashes
by Amethystanarchist100
Summary: Alistair is a young inventor with a quick wit and a screw loose, and his intent is to rise to the position of huntsman by way of the prestigious Beacon Academy. Follow his adventures as he struggles with many hidden dangers and trials, among which is a certain mischievous pair. Undergoing rewrite! T for swearing and minor perversion.
1. Prologue

Ashes

Prologue

**Hey guys! So, you've been with me for a while now, and I'm sure you've noticed a good deal of growth and change in my writing; both in style and overall skill. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm far from an amazing author or brilliant writer, but I'm also more confident in my skills as they are at this point. **

**So I decided to heavily edit my previous fanfics in order to improve the quality for all four of you out there who read this shit!**

**This was the first fanfiction I've ever posted online, which isn't saying much considering the lack of updates between then and now, but I still feel like I could have done better. So I will.**

**Anyways; I hope it goes over well with my various readers. Please note that I'll be posting this updated prologue a lot earlier than my later redo's, since I've only got one major issue with this chapter; the ending.**

**I'll still be doing tweaks when it's called for, but I've already edited this once before, so I should be better off than with my other chapters.**

**As it was before, I'll have a rather long author's note after the prologue to tell you what you can expect from this particular fanfic, but for now, I'd like to say that this page will make it seem a bit more… serious than the rest of the story. Even without the rather undue last scene that I've cropped out.**

**This prologue isn't setting tone of the story, just introducing it and the character.**

**Now that I'm done ranting, I'll let you enjoy (hopefully) my first post; the prologue to "From Ashes"!**

**(Note: This is my re-uploaded, edited version of the prologue! The quality should be greatly improved now. Have fun!)**

"Speech"

'_Thought/Reading'_

"Synthesized/Robotic Speech"

*Onomatopoeia* (sound effect)

**(Author's Note)**

**Xxxxxx Scene Change xxxxxx**

**xxxxxx **Scene Break

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, Roosterteeth, or any work referenced in this fanfiction. RWBY is the machination of Monty Oum (Rest his soul) and property of Roosterteeth.**

**Now that that's done… Let the story BEGIN**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

"…_For Dust thou art, and to Dust shalt thou return…"_

_Genesis 3:19 (King James Version)_

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Black smoke rose high into the night sky, joining the clouds which had been dyed red and orange by the great pyre burning below. Ash mixed with snow on the wind, staining the white frost a light grey as it fell to the ground gently, held aloft by the warm updraft and allowed to settle further away, painting the world a stone grey.

Grey… just like his eyes.

Those orbs stared emptily up into the sky and watched the falling ash as it alighted upon him in the forest clearing and coated both his surroundings and his own body in a thin layer of the soft flakes, protecting him from the biting wind. He couldn't see much of the world around him because the snowstorm hanging overhead blotting out the moon and stars, but the barest of lights filtered into the clearing from the inferno flickering in the distance. Not that he cared much to look around.

He was paying no attention to anyone or anything around him; instead he simply lay there, clutching a leather book bag to his chest as he stared into the dark sky with a hollow gaze that bespoke no emotion, positive or negative. It was as though he was unconscious, yet still awake.

If he'd taken the time to look around himself, the boy would have seen several glowing sparks off in the distance that didn't flicker or die; burning red points of light that seemed to be imbedded in moving masses of the blackest shadow that swallowed what little light could be seen amongst the dying foliage. But either he didn't see them or simply didn't react, because he just lay there, his young face and torn clothes swiftly being covered up by the falling residue that left the world around him bleak and colorless with the only sign of life in him being the occasional blink of his eyes.

As he lay there, a few of the dark shapes in the woods turned their burning gaze in his general direction and for some reason began to flock towards him, seemingly attracted to him like moths to a flame, even though he was virtually invisible under all the ash.

Eventually they reached the edge of the clearing, showing the barest of their silhouettes to the world, as highlighted by the dim glow of the distant fires that licked the sky, revealing them to be bestial in nature. Yet something about them seemed… off.

It might have been the their solid red eyes, or the unusual size of some of the beasts, but something made them appear strange; almost unnatural in a way. They looked less like a menagerie of animals and more like a demonic horde, whose piercing gaze shone with a constant, insatiable hunger and were always searching, always watching for prey.

Those bloodthirsty eyes swept the forest floor as they approached the clearing, only to pause at the very edge, their heads moving around and their noses flaring while they sniffed the air as though tracking something; him most likely. Yet still he lay there, unmoving, uncaring, even as one of the beasts slowly stalked forward out from the cover of the woods and crept forward on all four legs.

Its canine head swayed back and forth as it held its nose to the ground, the fog of the creature's hot breath disturbing the ash and melting the snow beneath as it passed. The boy still didn't acknowledge its presence, even as it stood a mere six meters away…

Then it drew in until it was five meters out…

Then three…

Then one…

Then, it closed in the last remaining feet until it was only a mere few inches away from him, its hot breath on his face.

The air smelled of death and fresh blood, and it was panting hard enough for the boy to feel it even through the layer of ash on his face, which seemed to stir him from whatever trance he'd been under previously. It was then that he apparently noticed the creature, and realize exactly the full extent of trouble he was in.

His eyes regained the light of human awareness for a brief moment before they grew wide and the pupils narrowed with a fear that caused his muscles to tense and his breath to grow more ragged, in spite of his best attempts to quell it. Yet still he did not stand nor flee…

He had been paralyzed in fear, unable to move for a completely different reason this time; not that running would do much good for him, seeing as with the creature's longer legs, powerful muscles, and rending claws, the thing would easily run him down and slay him without issue. The simple fact was that this bestial thing was a predator made for the hunt, while he was no more than a human child, and it was doubtful the beast had any issues with the ripeness of its quarry.

Really, the only hope for survival that he had was to lie perfectly still and wait; it had missed him completely before so it might very well pass him by, right?

Unfortunately, it seemed even then that his chances of seeing daylight again were slim, as evidenced by the creature when it let out a loud snarl; a growl that echoed through the forest and vibrated in his chest. The sound seemed to rile up the horde of demons at its back, and they darted forward from the foliage mere moments later, though it would seem as though they weren't going to get a shot in on him, seeing as the beast before him had reared up and was swinging its curiously apelike paw down at him.

As the lycanthrope monster's curved claws descended upon him, the boy screwed his eyes shut and reflected on his life.

"_Mommy… Daddy… I'll see you soon."_ he thought as he waited for the pain, followed by darkness. The sharp hooks of the wolf-beast's hands fell swiftly and were quick to meet flesh…

Only to stop as they touched the skin.

It wasn't for lack of trying that the creature couldn't cut the male, but rather that its claws simply were unable to pierce his flesh, or even mark it.

The child slowly cracked open one of his eyes upon noticing he was laying unharmed, and there he saw a second bipedal form in the shadow of the were-beast, an arm held up to the side almost casually as the claws drove into it with immense force, though unable to pierce the outer layer.

The person was shorter than the creature by a good deal, and seemingly even shorter than an average adult human, but aside from that and the fact its form was covered in long tattered robes, the boy could see no discerning features. The person gave a very masculine grunt as he pushed the claws of the creature away, which was apparently unsure how to proceed as it stood a mere few feet away from the man, growling at him warily, the rest pausing behind it and following its lead.

"You shall harm no other this night." the short man spoke with a gruff voice that held an almost oppressive power, as well as a sharp edge to it that bespoke the apparent danger these creatures now faced.

As though responding to the thinly veiled threat, the beast before him snarled harshly, yet still made no move to assault him as they stood there for a moment, glaring into eachother's eyes as if searching for something or waiting for their opponent to make the first move. Needless to say, it was a tense few moments in which they stared down, the beasts behind the wolf-thing equally on-edge as their apparent alpha dog, and a fight was sure to break out between them.

It would seem, though, that the conflict would have to be put off for another time, as it was interrupted by a new sound.

This call emanated from some far-off place deep in the woods, and sounded so blood curdling, so unnatural, that there was no way any living, naturally occurring animal or mortal being could have made it.

This otherworldly, daemonic noise drew the attention of both the old man and the pack of various monsters, the latter of which soon lost much of its tension for some odd reason as they turned their heads to listen to it. After it died down, the pack leader then turned to the old male and gave one last growl, as if to say _'This isn't over.'_ before it retreated into the woods at great speeds. The other animalistic things lingered, hesitating for a moment as they stared at the two humans in the clearing, before they turned and, as though following some primitive chain of command, followed the wolf-beast out of the clearing, leaving the pair completely untouched.

Once the area was clear of the demon spawn, the older male let out a sigh of relief as the tension flooded from his body before turning to fully face the young boy.

"My boy…" he said softly in an attempt to soothe him "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice baring a subtle accent.

The child let out a shuddering breath and gave a short, hesitant nod, but made no verbal response aside from that. Still, the fact that the boy was still breathing and relatively healthy made the old man smile, even in spite of the sadness in his steely grey eyes, which the boy could now see were a shade or two darker than his own ashen orbs. In fact, now that the old man was no longer in the shadow of the wolf demon, many of his features became very apparent to the boy.

The old man had light skin and a short, stout figure that was draped in a set of dull orange robes with tattered ends and a darker orange cloak in much the same condition. His hair was white and reached his shoulders in a way that seemed to match his fuzzy eyebrows and long, braided beard in color, the latter of which reached down to his hips and ended in a knot. His wrinkled face was mostly obstructed by his well-groomed facial hair, but what could be seen was twisted in a mix between profound sadness and genuine kindness.

His frown deepened as he turned to face the burning pyre in the distance and pressed his hands together, muttering a short prayer under his breath with his head bowed, before returning his attention to the child lying at his feet.

Taking to a knee, the man's demeanor became gentle and non-threatening as he pulled a water skin from his robes and held it delicately to the boy's lips, where the youth drank weakly from it.

"Tell me, d'ya have a name?" he inquired as softly as he could muster. When he finished drinking, the ash covered boy took a short breath before answering.

"A-Alistair" he barely managed to rasp out, his voice coming out as more of a wheeze than anything even remotely healthy.

Still, the response was enough to confirm he was alright, getting a smile from the old man. "Well then Alistair, I think 'tis a bit too cold out here to be takin' a nap. Come on, let's get ye' a nice bowl of soup an' a warm bed." he offered, stowing the bottle back into his robes. The man looked down at the small form of the boy, who nodded once more, causing a good amount of the loose ash on his face and in his hair to come free and fall off; not completely, but enough to show more of his features than before.

The boy's features were smooth and had some baby fat to them, proving that he wasn't malnourished, and his ashen grey eyes were more focused now, the pupils no longer narrowed now that the danger had passed. His skin was pale to an almost unhealthy tone, though that could have been the result of anything from the recent shock, to his extended time out in the cold, to a simple life spent more indoors than out. The boy's hair fell down to his shoulders and was slicked back with partially melted snow and wet ash, but if one were to look they could tell that his hair was a deep brown color, though had an odd blond streak in the bangs that fell down the front of his forehead in a lock that was about an inch thick

The old man briefly glanced back to the village "Such a waste…" he muttered under his breath with a sigh, but then returned his attention to Alistair and picked him up in his arms, getting little reaction from the lad as he was lifted. The man held him close and used the large sleeve of his robes to shield the boy from the cold, his shirt having been terribly ripped and soaked through.

"Still, I managed to save at least one." he said quietly, before walking away from the scene.

As they walked away, the ashes slowly began to flake off his visage. The flames rising above the skyline were reflected in the boy's eyes, and it was as though the light were empowering him, filling with life and causing the colour to return to his face…

He was alive.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

**A/N: And with that, the prologue is done! What does the future hold for young Alistair? What the hell happened to him? Who is this mysterious old man? All these questions will have their answers eventually; you just need to keep reading to find them.**

**Before anyone says anything; no the bible quote wasn't necessary, and no I'm not religious, but I figured it was a good way to kick everything off, seeing the lore behind the world. If you don't get it, go watch the first episode. **

**Quick note; this is a rewrite of the prologue, seeing as I'm a little more experienced and I figured I could have done much better than the initial attempts.**

**The reason I cut this off here is because, for one, I feel like the cropped scene made Alistair's initial goal seem a bit transparent, and even though that wasn't his actual goal later on (an attempt to mislead you) I still feel like it was unnecessary. Secondly, I feel like it made him look a bit too needlessly emo, especially considering the more light-hearted tone I'm going for here, so I just up and snipped it off. **

**Instead, I just put another paragraph in its place to get across the whole idea I was trying to convey.**

**Just goes to show that sometimes you can say more with less. And come off as a lot less angsty.**

**Now, let's talk about the story and what you can expect from both it and me. (From here on out is the original AN.)**

**First off, this story isn't some fine art, nor am I a sensitive artist, this is just a hobby of mine that I do in my spare time and I've decided to share with all of you reading… all five of you.**

**Despite that, I put plenty of effort into everything I do and revise my work almost constantly in an attempt to make it presentable, even if I never really planned on presenting it before now. Now that I know people are reading my *ahem* "story" I'll have to work extra hard to make all material palatable for other people; meaning you lot. **

**Because of this, advice and constructive criticism is **_**always**_** welcomed, and I don't even mind people being brutally honest as long as there's some advice on how I could improve, and it's legible. I'm not exactly spilling my heart and soul into this, so don't worry about offending me. I have this on my profile, but I feel like it needed to be said again. **

**As for the story itself, don't expect it to be stoic or somber. I don't like the concept of the dull-as-wood main character that has some past trauma and acts all emotional and moody while somehow retaining absolutely no personality, so don't expect that. **

**I know that this prologue seems to set that sort of tone, but this is more to establish the main character and his motives beforehand, even if it has a bit of an unpleasant vibe to it. Many of the in-cannon characters have dark pasts, but the difference between them and Alistair is that you get to see his first-hand; or at least a part of it. **

**Really, I plan to make this story much like the source material, meaning that it will be mostly kind of goofy, but with serious tones to it, making for a more fun, lighthearted adventure while keeping the people involved at least somewhat realistic… at least in terms of personality. **

**I doubt normal little girls go around brandishing scythes the size of small cars.**

**In terms of the plot, it's like I said; I tend to make my stories a sort of "New Game Plus" for fans of the original series, where in this case the "Plus" will be Alistair and my other original characters. **

**Because of this, the fanfiction will parallel the main story, and the OC's involved will interact frequently with the main cannon characters both in the cannon chapters (I'll add them to the storylines of the RWBY episodes) and outside them, meaning that they will be taking part in much of the story. **

**Of course, I can't just add my own characters to RWBY and call it a fanfiction; at least not a decent one. That'd be like painting freckles on the Mona Lisa and calling it my own take on the art. This story will be mainly centered on the OC's and their own thoughts and feelings throughout these cannon scenes, and there will also be times where they will be doing something completely different while the story of team RWBY occurs somewhere else. **

**I'll also be filling in many of the blank spaces and timeskips between episodes and scenes left in the show, such as the days between "The Badge and the Burden" and the "Jaundice" arc in the main cannon. **

**Needless to say, a lot of this fic will be casual and will revolve around how these people interact and have fun. I have to emphasize this again; this **_**won't**_** be about some emo punk who's pissed off at the world because of his "dark past" despite being surrounded by happy people. Even though I **_**may**_** have made it seem that way in the prologue… sort of.**

**Speaking of the universe at hand, I want you all to remember that what you see here isn't the original RWBY world, but rather set in an Alternate Universe (AU), in which things may be a bit different from cannon. **

**I don't like breaking lore in any given universe, so don't expect it to get too crazy, but if you see something that shouldn't happen, this is the reason. And no, I'm **_**not**_** just covering my ass in case later material in the show contradicts something I already released; I'm just… making a point on… oh fuck it. **

**I like the series and couldn't be asked to wait until it ended to write this fic. Plus, my OC's will already be messing with some of the timeline, so it's not like it'll be the exact same as the show anyways. **

**Plus, I might be able to work this into that **_**other**_** thing… bah! Never mind that for now!**

**With that out of the way, I'll now talk about the inspiration behind the characters. **

**Much like the series itself, I make any and all original characters at least loosely based off of actual fairytales from historical figures, children's stories, nursery rhymes, epic mythos, or classic literature. I did this partially because I was worried my OC's wouldn't fit in with the world and partially because of a flash of inspiration I felt that I needed to write down, then expanded on.**

**In designing some of my characters, I may have had a bit of fun and decided to merge a few different legends into one person, among the most obvious of which will be Alistair. **

**See, the story behind his character is a funny one, because I originally had one base source in mind; the story of Dorian Grey, hence the last name. However after writing my initial version of the fiction I found that I concocted a very dry and boring Mary Sue with a posh accent and the ability to regenerate from any wound almost instantly as a semblance… not like we've ever seen **_**that**_** power before.**

**So I scrapped it and came out with something totally different by removing the Dorian Grey aspect and finding another character, then working off him. However I realized the storybook character I based him on had little to no combat abilities, so I added another into the mix and blended them together to make what you will see before you. I'll not spoil the exact inspirations, but I'll tell you that they both came from classic literature.**

**Because of this, I've devised a little game; see if you can guess the characters my OC's are based off of. You can expect plenty of symbolism relating to the original works, which will be little hints for you who can't figure it out, and Easter eggs for those of you who can. **

**As for Alistair himself, I kinda had some fun with his character… maybe more than I should have. A few of the references may be a bit of a stretch, and the character himself has several features about himself and his back story that have little to no relation to his inspirations, but there are also many similarities that I feel counter the relatively few differences.**

**In spite of all this, I assure you that I do research the subjects and characters that I base my "work" on, so if you look close enough you're likely to find similarities.**

**Well, that's all I got for now! See you in the next chapter!**


	2. Old Friends, New Beginnings

From Ashes

Chapter 1: Old Friends and New Beginnings

**The first actual chapter of my first posted story! I'm both excited and nervous to see how people like it!**

**Just a quick note, but I will be describing things or characters that fans of the series may already know but others might not. It may seem silly to mention this, but for the sake of convenience I'll try to keep all character/set descriptions and lore explanations to one or two paragraphs separate from anything else, so that people who already know them can just skip over.**

**If there are any comments for me after this chapter, then just leave a review or pm me if you have the liberty.**

**Also remember the competition to admit your own OC's is still open, and will remain so indefinitely. So keep that in mind for the future, but please read the chapter pertaining to it so I don't get a bunch of disorganized spam.**

**Now, I know I said that I would put up all the redone chapters at once, but after re-reading this particular chapter, I was honestly embarrassed by some of my mistakes I made here, so I had to get this up right away. Seriously, I'm surprised you even stayed with this story so long.**

**That's all I have to say. Now, on with the show!**

"Speech"

'_Thought/Reading'_

"Synthesized/Robotic Speech"

*Onomatopoeia* (sound effect)

**(Author's Note)**

**Xxxxxx Scene Change xxxxxx**

**xxxxxx **Scene Break

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any materials referenced here. RWBY is the machination of Monty Oum (Rest his soul) and property of Roosterteeth.**

**Let the story BEGIN!**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

Alistair was making his way down the dark streets of the commercial district, toying with the lollipop in his mouth, as indicated by the slight bobbing of the stick while he looked over the small digital camera in his grip. A faint smile was firmly in place on his features as he allowed the cherry-flavored treat to melt on his tongue.

'_I do love 24-hour stores' _he mused silently to himself. The boy was now 17 years of age, and had cleaned up rather nicely, all things considered. His hair fell down to his neck and neatly combed down around eyes, with the blond strand falling to just above his right brow. The brown locks partially obscured his somewhat pale, angular face and his now lively grey eyes, which focused on the camera's moving lens as he clicked one of the buttons.

He sported a grey hooded sweater to keep the chill out and a white t-shirt could barely be seen poking out from underneath, adding an extra layer of protection from the nippy evening wind. What little of the t-shirt that could be seen protruding from the underside of the sweater served as somewhat of a break in the monotony of his outfit, given that his lower half was clad in a slightly darker grey pair of cargo pants with numerous pockets littering the legs, most of which bulged with various objects of unknown origin, save for the assortment of wires that hung out of some. His feet were encased in a simple set of white and black running shoes that tapped on the concrete sidewalk beneath them.

He sighed. "Such work to be done…" he murmured in what could be described as an English accent, giving his voice a distinctly posh tone, though lacking any form of apparent arrogance. **(1)**

"I've got at least an hour of packing to get that bloody mess under control, and my workshop has fallen into such disarray that any headway is immediately negated by the overwhelming storm of scrap." he muttered to himself in clear displeasure, with nobody on the empty streets to judge him for talking to thin air.

This seemed to spark an idea, though, prompting him to withdraw a small, white object from his pocket. He lifted the flat, white, rectangular device to his face and held his thumb against the yellow diamond in the middle, which lit up with a beep to indicate it had activated the desired function. "Scroll, record." commanded the teen.

Another beep greeted his ears, and he began to dictate. "Reminder to purchase antibiotics and medical treatment kits."

The scroll then gave yet another beep. "Affirmative; Reminder to pursue probiotics and medicinal internment kits." **(2)**

"Oh god damn it…" the man groaned, massaging his forehead as he stowed the machine away in his pocket. "I'll write it down later." he noted to himself in annoyance.

That issue was for later, though, as he decided to push the matter from his mind for the time being, instead focusing on his apparent hobby.

He turned the camera around and popped open the back, looking at the inner workings with a keen eye as he brought up his left hand to grab the now candy-deprived lollipop stick from his mouth.

The arm bore a strange looking gauntlet that would have made the boy stand out in a crowd, were it not for the sleeve that covered it. What could be seen of it was something that resembled splint mail, not unlike that of a samurai but it was silver and there was a solid plate at the back of the arm, along with metal caps on the fingers and knuckles. A symbol was engraved into the surface of the plate on his hand, which resembled an eye with a vertical slit pupil like that of a cat, which was set inside what looked like a simple cog.

The male tossed the paper lollipop stick into a nearby trash can as he looked over the camera in his hand more intently, as though trying to take it apart in his mind and figure out what made it tick without touching it, however all attempts were made fruitless when he heard something from overhead.

He looked away from his camera and up into the starry sky above to find the source of the distraction, and there he saw something highly unusual; an airborne VTOL aircraft, flying a bit too low over the city to be mistaken for any commercial flight. The engines ran with a surprising silence and were difficult to detect through the din of the late evening city, even from such a low elevation, but he could still hear their whirring and see the unique outline of the airship itself heading back into the commercial district that he'd just left. This was all far too outside the norm for him to simply brush it off as some sort of military drill, and ships like that most certainly were not used for deliveries to even the wealthiest companies. That would be completely ludicrous.

The male just stood there for a second, staring at the machine with a look that was somewhere between contemplative and annoyed, as though debating internally whether he should follow the bullhead or simply disregard it.

In the end, he let out a sigh of exasperation and the thoughtful part of his expression was overridden by the irritation as he seemed to come to the conclusion that he had to follow the thing to see what was going on.

Closing the back of the camera and stowing it back into his sweater pocket, the male grumbled and turned to face a seemingly random nearby building. "I swear, my suspicions had best not be for nothing…" he then trailed off into an incomprehensible grumble.

Taking a flying leap, the boy seemed to soar several feet forward and over two stories up with apparently minimum effort only to land on the roof with an unusual grace not unlike that of a hawk. He looked over towards the aircraft and saw it slowly lower itself into the shopping district, not making a sound as it descended beneath the roofs of the surrounding shops, which caused the teen to sigh again in annoyance.

"Brilliant." he grumbled to himself, his voice taking a tone of displeasure. "Here I thought I'd arrive home in a timely manner." he said before taking off across the rooftops towards the goal; whatever this aircraft was doing certainly couldn't have been good. "I feel uneasy about all this…" he muttered, then kicked off the lip of another roof and managed to skip one of the shorter buildings, landing on a building across from it.

He pulled out a small metal cigar box from the uppermost pocket on the left of his pants, cracking it open to reveal, not tobacco, but a series of small crystals; each of them was a pale blue in colour and radiated a dull light, thrumming with energy. The teen withdrew one of the crystals and held up his left wrist, where a small slot opened up in one of the metal amour strips, allowing him to slide the gem into place, upon doing which the hatch closed.

"And today was going so well, too… Bloody bullhead."

**Xxxxxx Meanwhile; City Streets xxxxxx **

Several forms casually stepped out of the aircraft as it settled in the alley, most of which were clad in fine black suits and dress shoes, with red ties, tinted glasses of the same shade, and the occasional fedora on some of their heads, all of which together gave them the appearance of illicit businessmen. **(3)**

The one at the front of the group, however, stood out among the rest.

He wore a fine white coat over a black undershirt, some high-quality black dress pants and matching shoes, and a set of gloves that matched the color. A curtain of his bright orange hair protruded from the front of the bowler's hat on his head, hiding the leftmost of his grey eyes and curling away from his pale cheek.

The man turned back and gave an "ok" signal to the remaining people in the back of the VTOL before gesturing for the other men to follow his lead as he left the alley.

He twirled his cane around as he walked with a confident, almost arrogant swagger to his step, which was well earned if the reactions of those around him were anything to go by. He had to smirk around his cigar as people shrank away and began to flee from him and his men as they passed, obviously having attained some sort of reputation with them. All thoughts of his public image vanished from his mind, however, upon approaching the small dust shop at the end of the street, where he looked up at the sign, reading '_From Dust 'Till Dawn'_ with a small chuckle at the obvious play on words, before entering.

**Xxxxxx **

The night had been rather quiet thus far, as the elderly shopkeeper tended the counter, lovingly polishing the display case to ensure no smudges or marks spoiled the view of his merchandise; crystals of several different sizes, shapes and colours lined the soft cushions in the display. They weren't unlike those Alistair had in his possession earlier, albeit larger and in more variety.

The old man at the counter looked up as the orange-haired male entered his store, flanked by several others in matching suits… the group looked like they were up to no good.

Adding to that, the man in front looked very familiar to him, however the old man was a bit slow on the uptake in his advanced age, and the late hour wasn't helping any, so he hadn't been expecting much in the way of trouble.

That said he didn't take too kindly to the visitors when the orange haired man pulled the cigar from his lips and flicked the ashes onto the wooden frame of his display case, burning a black mark into the once-pristine surface he'd taken great care to maintain. The shopkeeper was about to speak up against the act, but the apparent leader of this rabble beat him to it.

"Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open at this hour?" he asked. The older man didn't have time to respond or react, as one of the suit-clad thugs drew a gun and pointed it at the now-frightened cashier, who now had his hands up in surrender.

"I don't want any trouble. P-Please just take my lien and leave." he stuttered out, only for the man leading the robbery to let out a seemingly good-natured chuckle

"Relax old man, we're not here for your money." he said in a faux reassuring manner, then turned to the men at his side. "Grab the Dust." he ordered simply, before standing back to watch the proceedings as his henchmen got to work looting the place. As all of the men sprung into action, one at the front of the group pulled a suitcase up from his side and placed it on the counter, turning it towards the old man and holding it open before he began issuing orders.

"Burn, uncut." he said stoically, yet firmly, and the old man complied by reaching into the glass display and retrieving a red, opaque crystal before placing it in the case. As this was happening, a few others stepped off to the side of the store where there were sat a number of huge metal tanks lining the wall, each filled with some sort of powder, which took the form of a fine powder. They attached silver canisters to the ends of these tubes and began to empty the contents into them.

Meanwhile, one of the henchmen moved to the opposite side of the store to his partners, searching a set of shelves for more loot they could pilfer, only to catch something out the side of his eye that made him turn. A small figure stood at the very back of the shop clad mostly in a black and red ensemble with a bright red hooded cloak dangling from the back and flowing in a non-existent wind **(4)**. This figure was obviously female, even though the man couldn't see her face or figure through the cloak, though if her state of dress was anything to go by, that was a fair assumption.

Given her height, the girl couldn't have been more than 16 (if one were being generous), and was clad in a black blouse with long sleeves, which was bound by a black leather corset over her midriff with strings of red holding it tight against her body. A black skirt fell down her thighs and splayed out, with red trimming at the end to break up the monotony between the skirt and her black/dark brown leggings, which descended into a pair of black, knee-high combat boots with red soles and laces. Over all, she seemed to have a fondness for the "Gothic Lolita" style that some teens seemed to be taking a liking to.

Where most would see just another cute girl, the man smirked as he saw an easy way to make a quick buck on the side of this job. Unfortunately for him, the only thing he was _making_ was a very big mistake, which he would soon find himself learning the hard way.

**Xxxxxx Meanwhile; Nearby Rooftop xxxxxx **

The young man stood atop the roof and looked over the area from a vantage point that let him see both the bullhead and the Dust store not far down the street, the former of which was still carrying several men in suits. _'Those look like Junior's men.'_ he mused to himself. _'Why would they bother looting such a small-time Dust shop? I know he's been in need of funds since his club inexplicably exploded, but such small jobs are typically beneath him…'_ he thought, looking over the craft. He then blinked in surprise as he seemingly realized something. "Wait… since when does he have access to bullheads?" he questioned with a worried look on his face.

He sighed and looked contemplative as he surveyed the area, before pulling the scroll from his pocket. The slab slid open at a seam running down the center**,** and between the two halves was a holographic screen that resembled that of a touch-screen phone, with numerous applications on its metaphysical surface, one of which was the speed-dial number labeled "Vale police department" in red. His thumb hovered over the number, but he hesitated to press it for some reason, opting instead to pull up his grey hood and observe the proceedings down below with a keen eye in case something undesirable occurred.

Of course, he didn't have to wait long for said undesirable event to take place.

One of the men that had entered the shop soon came flying out through the front window, much to his surprise. Alistair merely stood there with a look of bewildered shock on his mostly-hidden features.

"Well… that was unexpected." he commented as he regained his composure, though with some effort, ducking behind a chimney protruding from the roof upon which he stood.

His confusion was cleared up moments later when the exact reason for the man's misfortune flung herself through the now shattered window in a flash of red color and motion, bringing a sigh to the male's lips.

"And with that, now I'll _have _to get involved, won't I?" he said in exasperation.

**Xxxxxx Moments Earlier; In the Shop xxxxxx **

The hapless robber approached the smaller form of the girl, drawing a curved red cleaver from his belt as he did and brandishing it in a menacing manner. "Alright, hands where I can see them." he ordered, only for his brows to furrow when she seemingly ignored him. He growled in indignation and stomped over to the girl. "Hey! You have a death wish or something?" he asked her, placing a hand upon her cloaked shoulder and turning her around to face him, only for her hood to fall back and reveal her face, set in a confused expression.

The girl had a youthful look to her, with round features, not unlike others of her apparent age group, in which were set a pair of curious, innocent eyes of the most dazzling silver that gleamed with purity and childlike exuberance and were framed by ragged, shoulder length hair of such a deep red that it was nearly black.

She looked at him with obvious, innocent confusion in her eyes as the man was made aware of the reason she hadn't heard him, being that she was wearing a set of red and black headphones that blocked all sound from being heard.

Frustrated, the man gestured to his own ears, which the girl responded to by removing the headset and letting them sit around her neck. "This'll be the day we're waiting for~!" could vaguely be heard from them as the girl responded.

"Yes?" she asked curiously, apparently not noticing the bright red weapon in the man's hand.

The goon's brows came together once more, this time in an angry scowl as he brought the blade to bear again, finally catching her attention. "I said put your hands in the air. Now." he commanded, and the girl's eyes narrowed.

… One could _see_ the gears turning in her head.

"Are you… robbing me?" she asked in seemingly genuine confusion, and the male was left unable to respond for a moment as he tried to comprehend the girl before him.

Snapping out of it, the man began to grow absolutely irate with the youth, who was either insanely inept, or just messing with him. "Yes!" he exclaimed, not in the mood for this shit.

"Ohhhh…"

And that was how the man found himself on the other side of the window.

**Xxxxxx **

The girl stood over the fallen robber, twirling a massive scythe with a blade about as large as she was tall, which she brought down into the street to rest it, only for the sharp point to leave a deep gouge in the asphalt of the road.

"Welcome to a world of new solutions, welcome to a world of bloody evolution~!" *click* She turned off her music, preparing for the fight to come.

The criminal leader's eyes narrowed in both confusion and irritation as he and his henchmen just stared at the teen for a moment. "Okay…" he muttered, before looking between the remainder of his gawping comrade.

"Get her." he said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, and they wordlessly drew their weapons before complying with the order.

They didn't last long, to say the least.

One ran straight at the girl, taking a swing at her legs in what was likely a bid to immobilize her, but the strike was evaded as she hopped over the blade with practiced ease while keeping her left hand on the scythe's handle for balance, which barely moved as she placed her entire weight on it, as a testament to its own mass. The man who swung at her was rewarded for his efforts with a swift double-kick to the head as the red-haired girl spun around atop her weapon and brought both feet forward in an astonishing acrobatic display, balancing only on a single hand while upon her weapon's handle, which remained parallel to the ground.

As the first punk hit the ground, the girl swung around the handle using the momentum and then flew directly upwards, pulling the blade of her weapon from the ground as she did so in yet another display of her inhuman strength. Upon landing, she flourished the weapon and slung it back in a battle-ready stance, which was convenient for her since two of the thug's friends were running up behind her with blades ready for melee combat… just not with her.

She reached forward and pulled a trigger on the handle which resulted in a loud bang and a flash of light emitting from the head of the scythe, revealing the weapon's secondary function as a firearm of some description. A rather high-caliber one if the sound was an indicator.

Rather than using the gun in its intended fashion, the girl instead took advantage of the recoil of the weapon to immediately gather huge amounts of momentum and thus increase the power behind her swing to a degree that she probably couldn't achieve otherwise, even with her apparently superhuman strength.

Using this burst of speed and striking power, she spun around and swung her scythe, using the blunt back end of the head to smack away the closer of the two approaching enemies, which sent him flying off down the street a short distance.

She stopped her spin when she was facing the remaining enemy, however there was still a considerable amount of force behind her scythe, so she managed to use that to her advantage by redirecting the momentum and twirling the scythe like a baton, bringing it down on top of the thug. He wasn't quick enough to evade the overhead swing and wound up on his back in a crater in the road, likely with several broken ribs, but his groans of pain indicated that the titanic force of the swing hadn't killed him, which was a feat in-and-of itself.

The girl didn't pause, and turned to face the remaining foes.

It would appear that while she was dispatching the other henchmen, the one that she'd first knocked out the window had managed to slink off and retrieve a military-grade combat rifle (She would later question from where), which he then aimed at her before pulling the trigger and unleashing a hail of gunfire on her petite form. The man had to balk, however, as he missed the girl with every shot he fired; not for lack of trying, but because the girl literally _dodged_ every bullet unleashed from the automatic weapon.

The red haired girl was like an invisible whirlwind as she moved so fast that the naked eye couldn't track her. She flickered from one place to another in a blur of motion and left only a trail of ethereal rose petals in her wake.

After darting back away from another round of firing, she then changed course and moved directly at her assailant as he paused to reload his weapon, only to drop the clip in surprise when he noticed her coming too fast for him to react.

The girl dropped down mid-run into a slide, as though she were a baseball player sliding into home base, and delivered an upwards kick when she was just below the man, sending him high into the air. As the last of her enemies went flying, she stopped her slide short by swinging her scythe down into the road, leaving yet another pothole in her wake as she halted her momentum completely and flipped up to her feet before flinging herself up into the air after her flailing victim. She somehow managed to rise until she was level with the man in the air, she then spun quickly in place and used the back end of her scythe to bat him away and directly into the street, where he slid for a while until coming to a stop at his boss's feet, unconscious.

The orange haired man looked down almost apathetically at his henchman. "You were worth every cent, truly you were." he quipped sarcastically towards his incapacitated thugs before turning to his newest adversary.

The girl swung the weapon down and gestured towards him. "End of the line, big guy!" she said in a tone that would normally be heroic… if her voice wasn't that of a cute little girl.

The man only smirked around his cigar for a moment. "Indeed it is." he said, only for the sound of multiple guns being loaded to draw the girl's attention to what was behind her.

"For you." the ring leader finished cockily.

The young hero turned around to find herself faced with a line of at least five other thugs, all of which were armed with similar rifles to the last of the henchmen she'd just incapacitated. The orange-haired man plucked the unfinished tobacco from his lips and tossed it to the ground, before dousing it with the end of his cane. "Well Red, I think we can all agree it's been an eventful evening. However now we must part ways."

The girl turned to face the new threat with a cocky smirk of her own, clearly confident in her abilities as she readied her weapon for another round, but it was as though nature's wrath itself seemed to deny her this combat, as the fight was cut short by a crack of thunder. Everyone jumped, not having expected the phenomenon, however both the cloaked girl and the criminal leader were the only ones to realize one very important fact; there were no clouds hanging in the night's sky.

It was only a heartbeat after this realization was made that chaos erupted amidst the criminals' firing line, as flashes of light broke out across their number and the men began falling left and right. The street lights flickered sporadically and showered the crooks in sparks as bolts of lightning rained down on them, arcing out of the overhead lamp and directly into their guns, forcing them to their knees and making them drop the weapons.

They hardly had a chance to squeak before they all passed out and fell to the ground in a twitching mess of entangled limbs and, in one unfortunate case, a pool of lightly steaming bodily fluids.

The sudden interference left the two standing combatants confused and more than a little on-edge. "What-" started the cloaked girl, but soon found her question answered as a third figure joined her on the street, landing nimbly among the unconscious thugs from a nearby roof. A dark grey hood hid his face from their view and a metal gauntlet of sorts covered his left arm, crackling with electricity as an indicator of who exactly was behind the rogue lighting fixtures.

He looked up from the thugs and the shadow of his hood retracted enough to reveal his mouth, which was set in a small smirk. "This is quite the sorry sight; a group of grown men teaming up on a single little girl. And losing, no less…" he chuckled. The male then turned to look specifically at the older man in the bowler hat.

"Oh. And I never took you for a cliché, Roman. 'For you'? Seriously?" he commented on the man's earlier quip with obvious amusement, much to the thief's irritation and confusion.

Meanwhile, the girl had been looking at him with a squint as she tried to figure out his identity, at least until his earlier comment fully sunk in. "Hey!" she said after a moment of thought, surprising him slightly and drawing his attention.

He turned to her with a look of confusion, though it was wiped from his concealed features when the girl huffed and pouted indignantly. "I'm not a little girl! And what's wrong with them losing to me anyways!?" she called him out while turning away from him childishly.

The man couldn't help but laugh a little; amused at seeing the girl who had clearly just disabled a group of heavily armed criminals now pouting like a child. Though it could be said he was a bit nervous for that very same fact.

She glared at him lightly upon hearing him laugh, so he quickly held up his hands in a placating gesture. "My apologies for the disservice. But perhaps we might argue semantics another time?" he asked politely, doing his best to be respectful… she _had_ just taken out an entire squad of armed criminals.

The girl seemed to calm down and laughed sheepishly. "Uhh, yeah. Maybe not the best time." she said, and they then turned back to the criminal they'd been about to face off with. "Now as for you-" both sets of eyes widened upon realizing the man was gone

"Huh!?" the girl exclaimed, looking around for any trace of their opponent. "He was right there a second ago!"

The male meanwhile then turned around and began looking up and down the road. "Where'd Torchwick go?" asked Alistair, only for the girl to point up over his shoulder, where he turned to see the man scaling a ladder up the side of a building.

He rolled his eyes "Should have seen _that_ coming."

He turned back to the cloaked girl as she spoke to the Dust shop's owner "You okay if I go after him?" she asked, and the old man grunted out an "mhm" of affirmation.

The girl turned towards where Torchwick had escaped to, only to find Alistair already half way there with a playful smirk on his hooded features. "Coming, miss?" he called back to her, only for the girl to give a smirk of her own in return.

She suddenly disappeared in a flash of rose petals and wind, only to reappear slightly ahead of him. "Just catch up when you can." she returned cockily, before darting off towards the building and leaping up its wall without effort.

The hooded male chuckled. "She's just full of surprises." he said to himself before hurrying to catch up.

Landing behind the fleeing criminal, the thud of the girl's arrival was enough to catch his attention, though aiming her sniper at him and shouting "Hey!" was ultimately what made him pause in his tracks. He didn't face her, but rather turned over his shoulder to look at her out the corner of his eye.

"Persistent." he growled out in irritation, before another thud alerted both to the appearance of the hooded male just behind the red haired girl.

Hearing her unexpected backup arrive with a quiet noise of his own, the girl smirked at Torchwick. "Hands where we can see 'em." she said, only for her smirk to fade as the older of the males chuckled, confusing the two teens, who glanced briefly between each other.

Suddenly, the bullhead burst up from the alley in a gust of wind that caused the younger of the two of the roof's occupants to stumble back. "Oh… I honestly forgot about that." the male said, and the redhead looked at him with a deadpan stare.

"Really?" she asked, and Alistair chuckled sheepishly, only to return their attention to the thief as he climbed aboard the aircraft and turned back to them with a mocking smile on his face.

Torchwick reached into his jacket. "It's like you said, Red! End of the line!" he called over the sound of the engines, before retrieving a red Dust crystal from his jacket and tossing it at the feet of the black clad girl.

Both teens had only a moment to realize what was happening, and their eyes grew wide as the man in the aircraft lifted his cane and pointed it at the gem. The bottom flipped open, revealing it as a firearm, and there was a sudden blur of motion before the shot rang out through the evening sky. A flash of light hit the Dust, resulting in an explosion that rocked the building and filled the area with smoke and flames.

"Woo! Hahahah!" Torchwick whooped and cackled loudly at the explosion and glanced down to revel in the results, only to scowl moments later at what he witnessed. **(5)**

Meanwhile, the red hooded girl's eyes had been screwed shut and she used her arms to shield herself from the blast that was soon to come. When it did come, however, there was no pain; no shrapnel piercing her flesh, no fire licking at her skin, no smoke choking her lungs, not even the slightest tingle of an ache to prickle at her nerves. Though there was a strange warmth, not a burning warmth like one would feel sitting too close to an open flame, but the sort of sensation she got from laying in bed with a blanket over her body.

She opened her eyes and was met with the sight of a grey curtain in front of her face, much to her surprise. "Wha-" she jumped slightly when another voice sounded above her.

"Are you alright?" asked the male almost teasingly.

She leapt away in surprise, and looked up to see the hooded man standing there with what she perceived as an amused smirk on his face. "It would appear so." he answered his own question with another chuckle, obviously not too worried for her safety to begin with.

The girl was left speechless for a moment, unsure how to react to someone just throwing themselves in front of an explosion like that, but her attention was swiftly drawn from the hooded youth to the shape of yet _another_ combatant, who had made her presence known. **(6)**

This new challenger to the criminal mastermind took the form of a tall, mature woman with light blond hair done up in a bun, a single curly lock of which fell down her pale forehead and over one of her stern, bright green eyes. Her outfit was simple, comprised of a white blouse with black buttons, a tight black business skirt, and a set of dark stockings that descended into a pair of black high-heeled shoes, all of which gave her the image of an intellectual. The only divergence from this highly professional air was the short black cape with the purple lining, which ended in several swirling strips of cloth that gave it a somewhat ragged appearance.

In her hand, she held a riding crop which she seemed to have used to conjure forth the floating barrier of magenta energy, fashioned to resemble a runic array, which she had apparently used to defend the two teens from the blast.

Adjusting her spectacles briefly with a hand, she then dropped the barrier as the smoke settled and revealed the now group of three to the man in the bullhead, who was obviously displeased by the number of setbacks increasing as opposed to decreasing. He didn't have much chance to contemplate this, as the woman soon made a swift gesture and unleashed a scattershot blast of glowing energy missiles from the riding crop in her grasp.

'_A huntress? That is quite the response time… and a well-timed response.'_ mused Alistair briefly as both he and his shorter ally readied for combat once more.

The man inside the bullhead, meanwhile, stumbled as the machine was pelted by energy and swerved in the air, and he moved out of sight behind the wall of the vehicle. "We've got a huntress!" the male called to someone else over the roar of the engines.

Alistair could barely register the comment before the woman in front of him gave off a purple glow then sent out yet another projectile from her crop, this one taking a far more direct route than the curving paths of the previous energy blasts. It didn't hit the bullhead, however; instead sailing over the machine where it stopped mid-air and birthed a swirling funnel cloud over the impromptu battlefield, which then glowed briefly in much the same manner as the woman had earlier, before unleashing a flurry of sharpened ice bolts, easily the size of a person.

The spell rained its full wrath upon the hovering craft, causing it to swerve and go off balance for a brief time, but other than some superficial punctures in the hull, it remained unharmed. The hailstorm ended just as another combatant came into view within the hangar of the vehicle, this one clad in a red battle dress and mostly shielded from view by shadows, through which the only things that could be seen were the runes that lined her clothes and her smoldering eyes, both of which glowed a bright orange like embers in a flame.

Alistair shivered as his own shining grey orbs widened marginally. _'This one… gives me a bad feeling.'_ he thought to himself as he watched the woman raise a hand, in which an orb of flame materialized. Oddly enough, it didn't project any glow to illuminate her face.

Seeing that, he spat a curse under his breath and his eyes darted back and forth across their field of battle. _'Blast and damn it all… I need a ranged weapon._' he mused silently, looking for something in particular; only for them to immediately land on an old wire clothesline stretched between two buildings, obviously worn and forgotten. He smirked then, an idea striking him. **(7)**

As he was doing that, the shadowed woman in the bullhead flung her hand forth and the fire within shot forward towards the group, but the blond woman seemed to be left completely unaffected by the assault, as she calmly flicked her wrist, conjuring up another barrier with no effort on her part.

As the pair were exchanging blows, the scythe-wielding teen's eyes lit up in admiration. "Oh, cool!" said the redhead girl, standing in awe of the spectacle before her. She was broken from it, however, when a hand landed on her shoulder. "Huh?"

Looking back, she saw the hooded boy who had helped her earlier, now with his arm wrapped in a thick, braided, rusted wire. "Perhaps it would be prudent to-"

He was cut off, and they were broken from their exchange when the concrete beneath their feet suddenly began to glow bright orange and heat up considerably, seemingly at the behest of the powerful, enigmatic woman in the bullhead, and the two of them naturally leapt out of the way of the blast, though the male was left clutching his right shoulder and hissing briefly in pain, unable to totally escape the blast.

The girl in the red cloak was quick to join him by his side upon noticing his plight, happy to leave the women to their duel. "Are you alright?" she asked him with a worried expression, and he nodded.

"I was a bit slow to respond." he chuckled as he took the hand away from his arm. The portion of his sweater where he'd been hit was singed and burned away, and in its place was left an angry red patch of skin with a mildly bleeding wound about as thick as a pencil lead, but the outer edges were cauterized, minimizing bleeding.

The girl looked concerned for the mysterious male. "Oh no!" she panicked briefly as she searched around. "Uhh, here." she said as she pulled a small kerchief from her pocket "This should keep the dirt out at least." The girl then began to wrap the wound.

The male smiled a bit at her "My thanks miss…" he left the sentence hanging, indicating the fact that he didn't know her name, causing her to rub the back of her head.

"Ruby; Ruby Rose." she filled in for him.

The male nodded. "Ruby Rose, huh? Fitting." he said with a little smile of his own, and she nodded with a giggle.

"Thanks. So, what's your name?" she asked. He was about to respond, before a loud explosion rang out from the bullhead. "Oh, right. Maybe this isn't the best time for introductions." she said sheepishly.

"Indeed." he responded with a nod.

In the few moments the teens were having their little exchange of words, the two women were exchanging blows.

Just after the explosion that injured Alistair, the blond woman gestured her crop towards the shrapnel that used to be the concrete roof and it glowed purple similarly to the rest of her previous attacks, before it all hovered in the air and compressed together into a giant floating javelin. The concrete spike was then sent hurtling towards the aircraft with a precise movement on part of the woman, and though it was met with resistance in the form of numerous flaming bolts fired by the shrouded woman, it simply reformed each time and continued along its trajectory with the same force.

From his place in the cockpit, Torchwick saw the incoming spell and tilted the craft to the side, using the wing to shield his companion from it and sending the attack scattering in all directions. The blond woman then manipulated the shrapnel once more, this time forming three serpentine wisps which then proceeded to pummel the aircraft from all sides. This assault lasted only a moment before they were dispelled by an orange explosion of energy centered on the other woman.

That was what caught the attention of the two teens.

Rejoining the battle instantly, Ruby converted her scythe into what looked like a sniper rifle and opened fire upon the woman in the craft with incredible accuracy, given that she wasn't even using the scope and opted to fire from the hip, nearly hitting the woman every time. This impeccable aim of hers was rendered useless, however, as the other female deflected the red-tinted shots with her bare hand, simply stopping the raw energy in place and dissipating each one when they were poised to take her head.

Alistair growled in aggravation upon seeing this, but realized that he was also unable to do anything about it… that is until a sudden inspiration hit him a second time and brought a smirk to his face.

The snapping of cords was heard, not unlike a guitar string breaking, just as Ruby fired the last shot in her clip, and everyone was caught off guard when a streak of light impacted the shot mid-flight, splitting it down the middle as Alistair swung his clothes line into its path, using it as an improvised weapon. Much to the surprise of the two in the VTOL, half the bullet was sent drastically off course and bounced up into the engine of the machine, causing it to spew smoke and jostle, which in turn made the woman stumble just as the second half of the bullet grazed her leg, leaving a deep gash on the skin.

The woman hissed in pain and the man in the cockpit swore. "Shit! We're leaving!" he called back to his partner, who turned back with a vengeance and held out her hand, casting another explosion spell that caused the three on the roof to scatter and allowing the craft to escape into the sky.

Alistair stood from his crouch with a sigh. "Well… that was exciting." he joked lightly, though the mature woman didn't seem too amused by the comment, as evidenced by the mild glare she leveled on him.

She held his gaze for a moment, before Ruby suddenly caught her attention by squealing out "You're a huntress!" causing both other occupants of the roof to look at her, only to see stars sparkling in her eyes. "Can I get your autograph!?" she asked in awe.

The woman looked at her in surprise for a moment, before shaking her head with an exhausted sigh. "Young lady, we have some things to talk about. I hope you realize how much trouble you're in." she said sternly, causing the light of admiration to leave the girl's eyes and be replaced by shame.

The woman then turned away from Ruby. "And you- Huh? Where did-?" she asked, looking around in confusion, catching the red cloaked girl's attention, upon which she looked up and realized the only male of the trio was nowhere in sight, having apparently disappeared from the immediate area.

Her heart sank even further "I-I didn't even get his name…" she said sadly while searching desperately for him. She looked to the spot she'd last seen him at, only for her eyes to be drawn to something on the ground; a simple white card with black text scrawled on it. She bent down to pick it up and read it

'_Perhaps another time? A.'_ she read, and a small smile graced her lips.

"Wait…" she paused. "When did he write this?"

**Xxxxxx Meanwhile; Two houses over xxxxxx **

Alistair sat against a chimney, having escaped the huntress's sight, and sighed. "Apologies, madam, but it appears introductions must wait." he muttered to himself, looking over at the nearby street lamps with a cringe. _'There is no way I can pay for that sort of damage.'_ he thought silently.

He sat there for a moment later as he heard the taller woman give her own sigh and grumble something about "finding him later," before escorting Ruby away with her.

The brunette boy waited for a while and made sure that the pair had vacated the area before doing the same, taking care to avoid the police on his way back home. He had some work to do before the morning came around, and it looked like his energy for the day was coming from a hot cup instead of a warm bed.

**Xxxxxx Several minutes later; Vytal Docks xxxxxx **

The teen silently crept his way through the industrial area, slowly making his way to a line of old warehouses by the docks while trying to avoid detection by anyone who might have spotted him.

Looking around, he made sure nobody was nearby before slinking up next to warehouse 136, where he spotted a light peeking through the crack of the staff door on the side of the building, which had been left slightly ajar and allowed access to the building in place of the huge garage door, which was shut tight.

'_Well that's unusual; I turned off the lights and closed the door when I left…'_ he thought with a worried look on his face, only for it to fade moments later and be replaced with a small smirk. _'Actually… I'm pretty sure I could name a few culprits.'_ he thought with a shake of his head and a chuckle. He withheld any further noises as he slipped into the building and peered around the main room for his intruder.

Over all, the building interior was what one would expect from a warehouse; spacious and filled with crates.

However this particular storage structure was neatly organized with a huge tower of old crates to the far side of the area, and a dented, rusted shipping container set up against them, the top missing from it. Clearly, this building had been abandoned for a while, given the state of decay on the crates and metal walls, and the lack of any real equipment present in the area. Within the huge, single room was a number of scavenged or cobbled-together worktables, benches, and a large wall lined with pinup boards and whiteboards on which one would expect to see posters hung or equations drawn, though it looked quite barren as many of the papers seemed to be stacked neatly off to the side, ready to be filed away.

That's not to say the room was clean by any stretch, given the piles of old electronics, scrap metal, and spools of wire that lay about haphazardly as though the entire building had been converted to a scrapyard since its closure. This wasn't a place you wanted to leave a child alone in for more than maybe a few seconds at a time, for obvious reasons.

The sound of clattering could be heard from that end of the room drawing the grey-eyed teen's attention.

At the far end of the large workshop area was a number of stacked boxes beside an old loveseat, ripped and stained over time and supported on one side by a cinder block where one leg seemed to have been broken off. One such box was marginally larger than the others and was sat beside the pyramid, wide open at the top to reveal a long, brown tail covered in thick fur, probably belonging to some sort of exceptionally fluffy big cat.

Despite the danger, Alistair's reaction to seeing this intruder was unusually calm. Where most people would be frightened or wary of any sort of strange entity in their house and would have likely called the police or animal control, the teen smirked and silently crept forward, as though to ambush the supposedly wild beast.

His footfall was both graceful and almost completely silent as he moved, foot over foot, towards the invading entity, which remained ignorant of his presence even as he stood a mere meter behind it with his hands ready to strike. Suddenly, he lashed out, and the mammal leapt from the crate with a loud yelp of surprise before landing and turning to face the male, revealing that it wasn't an animal at all.

In fact, the "animal" in question was actually a humanoid girl, who just so happened to come with several excess appendages.

The person was obviously female, with short, chestnut brown hair that matched her long bushy tail and the triangular ears atop her head that were standing straight up in surprise and fear. Her eyes were an emerald green with pupils narrowed into thin ovals, and a lithe figure covered in lean muscles that made her look very streamline and gave her a smaller profile, which was only emphasized by the fact that she was a full head shorter than Alistair. Her skin was lightly tanned and her face was set in a pout as she rubbed her jean-clad rear, a navy blue t-shirt hiding the rest from view.

The girl huffed "Humph! Don't you know it's rude to grab a woman's butt like that?" she asked him indignantly, earning a sarcastic smirk from the male.

"I agree completely, Renee." he retorted with a chuckle. "However it is also impolite to loot a man's house…" he paused for a moment "At least while he still draws breath." he then added as an afterthought.

The girl slumped in place and gave a sigh. "Well, when you put it that way…" she trailed off, only to perk up when the male's hand met her head gently and he started to scratch her scalp, causing her tail to wag like a big puppy.

It took her a moment to realize exactly what was going on, and her content look was replaced with one of confusion and embarrassment. "C-Cut that out!" she cried, swatting the hand away with an angry blush.

Alistair snickered. "I would apologize, but it's far too difficult to resist when your reactions are so amusing." he shrugged and teased the girl, earning a half-hearted glare from her, which lasted a moment before she simply sighed and rolled her eyes at his antics, looking up at the marginally taller teen with a smile.

The girl sighed. "I'm a faunus, but that doesn't make me your pet, you know." she grumbled indignantly.

"You could have fooled me." the male said with a shrug. "It's hard to tell at times, with the way you always wait around for me to come home and get into things you shouldn't while I'm away."

"I swear, you're so conceited." muttered the girl, before sighing and flopping into the couch next to the crate wall. "Speaking of waiting; you were gone for a full hour." she commented. "It doesn't take that long for a quick trip to the store. What took you?"

The male quirked a brow at that. "Ignoring the fact that you were apparently watching me before I left; I had to stop a robbery."

This caught the faunus girl's attention, causing her to perk up. "A robbery? Anyone we know?"

"Torchwick." the male responded simply, causing the fox-girl to cringe.

"Then that raises the question of how the hell you're here at all. Guy like that is dangerous, and he has connections." she stated, shivering.

"Well, it wasn't as though I went in alone. It's not every day I would pick a fight with the guy, or with Junior's men." explained the male. "I would have held back, had it not been for someone else getting involved."

Renee quirked a brow. "Someone else?"

"A girl; red cloak and hood, dressed in black, silver eyes." he described. "Ring any bells?"

The faunus took up a thinking position, biting her lip a little. "None that I can remember…" she said. "I'll have the others look into her, though. See what's up."

A short chuckle came from the young tinkerer. "I wouldn't bother. It looked like she was just caught up in the robbery and got carried away." he explained. "Though the huntress was another story entirely."

"A huntress was there?" asked Renee. "I always figured they left the smaller stuff to the cops. Even if Torchwick was involved, I would assume she'd… Are you okay?" she trailed off part way through her sentence, looking over at her friend.

He had started to shift uncomfortably in his spot, a shudder going up his spine despite his attempt to suppress it. The male seemed to notice this, and took a deep breath before going into his next explanation. "Yes… it's just that…" he paused, then shook his head and sighed. "Have you heard anything of a woman who uses fire Dust, probably woven into her clothes?"

Renee stared at Alistair for a second, but decided not to press the issue, and only shrugged. "I honestly haven't heard a thing about anyone like that, but I'll keep an ear to the ground for anything about her."

"Alright." the male said shortly, leaning on a wall.

Clearly, things would get uncomfortable at this rate, so Renee decided to cut that off before it became a problem. "So, uhh…" *ahem* "Since you're the hero here, why aren't you out bragging to the world about your greatness?" she asked with a little chuckle.

She was mildly perturbed when she didn't get an answer after a while, so she looked up at her friend to see if he was alright… only to see he had grown tense and was sweating nervously, refusing to look directly at her.

It didn't take much for her to catch on. "You blew something up again, didn't you?"

"A streetlight yes…" the male responded, trailing off. "Well… a few streetlights, actually."

Renee sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Ugh… can you go anywhere without blowing yourself up or destroying everything around you?"

"Do be fair, this time I intended to do it." the male reasoned.

"And _how_ is that any better?" asked the woman with a deadpan look.

"I… err…" Alistair stammered nervously as he thought. "I… need a Tesla coil to channel electricity over distance, and my gauntlet doesn't have any real range to it. The lamps just… happened to hold a charge."

"Before you blew them up…" the woman drawled.

"So- uhh- what might you be doing here, Renee?" the male asked hurriedly to change the subject. "Besides ransacking my property, that is."

This caused the woman to suddenly recall her original intent for being there. "Oh, right!" she cried in realization. "Well, I figured since you're off to Beacon tomorrow, I'd come to tell you that I'll be attending too." she said with a grin as she followed him to the couch.

At that, the boy raised a brow. "You _do_ realize there's a test you are required to pass before… you…" he stopped short as the girl retrieved a folded sheet of paper from her shirt.

"Well then, it would appear you're one step ahead of me, then." he commented awkwardly, grabbing the form and taking a seat next to Renee.

The paper bore a symbol resembling a pair of golden hand axes crossed over a field of the same color above a pair of olive branches, and bore a good sum of information on the girl before him. Put simply, the form contained a description of Renee, her fighting prowess, abilities, and weapons, along with numerous signatures from educators in the huntsman field.

Alistair turned from the paper back to his friend with a look of confusion. "When and how did you acquire this?" he asked in surprise, only feeding the girl's smirk.

"Well, I never really told you this, but I only really got into work with my brother's crew so I could pay my way through Signal Academy." she explained proudly with a grin. "What? You never wondered what I was doing out on Patch island?" she giggled.

Alistair remained silent for a moment, before a smile of his own split his face. "Oh, now that is cute." he said teasingly. "Sweet little Renee can't stand not having me around, so she is following me into Beacon. Does she have a secret infatuation I don't know about?" he asked her with a little smirk, only to receive a bop on the head in return.

The girl snatched the paper from him and looked away with her arms crossed. "S-Shut up, you! I already _have_ a boyfriend, you jerk!" she said with a huff, and the male chuckled while rubbing his head.

"Fine, I concede." he admitted, nursing the sore spot on his skull.

She nodded with a superior smirk on her face. "That's better." she said, before turning to him with a raised brow. "Though, if you're so keen on getting a girlfriend, why not visit a club?" she teased with a little laugh.

This only got a scoff from Alistair. "Come now, you know I have no such desires. A relationship would only distract from my work." he said, standing once more and heading for the nearest workbench.

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes "Right, almost forgot about that." she said in a deadpan voice "You'd rather spend your time with machines than with women… I'm starting to worry about you." she said, getting a confused look from him.

"Why would you be concerned?" he asked, picking up a half-built (or broken) robotic arm and examining it.

"There's no way it's healthy for a young man of your age to _not_ have at least a passing interest in women… or men if that's your thing. But you have neither. You should see a doctor or something." she said, cringing while looking at the metal hand.

Alistair snorted. "I'm perfectly healthy, I'll have you know. I just refuse to lower myself to the level of those drooling, hormonal _boys_, such as those at the club, or Dust forbid, your brother." he said with a curled nose, before returning to the robot arm.

"Besides, I have work that needs to be done and courtship would only interfere." he said before moving over to a crate and stowing the metal limb away inside it. "Even if that weren't the case, it's not as though any woman I meet would understand me." he explained with an air of finality.

"I am an inventor! A man of science! Not some… blind romantic!" he declared, acting overly-dramatic.

The fox-girl sighed in exasperation. "One of these days, Alistair, I'm going to find you a nice robot girl, then you'll have no reason to complain." she said while lying back on the couch.

The robotics engineer couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him "I'll tell you what. If you can find a mechanical girl with a good personality whom I find physically attractive, then I will _consider_ courting her." he said jokingly. **(8)**

Renee smirked "Until then, I'm sure that arm can serve _numerous_ purposes." she suggested, causing the male's brow to twitch.

He then turned away and cleared his throat, unsure how to react to the implications of what the girl said. "An-Anyways…" he stuttered out "I'm just glad you'll be joining me at Beacon. The time spent there should be far more comfortable this way." he said hurriedly.

Renee giggled to herself upon seeing how she got under his skin and made a mental note to bring it up later. "I had a feeling you'd say that." she said with a victorious grin on her face.

"Well, it's not as though you have any friends here in town anyways." the inventor offered in rebuttal, causing the woman to falter. "You need all the company you can get."

Renee slumped over and began to sulk. "Well… you raise a good point…" the girl muttered in thought as a dark cloud seemingly hovered over her head, earning a chuckle from her friend.

"Come on now." he said, patting the brunette girl on the back as he stood. "I'll make us some coffee, eh?"

Renee nodded sullenly and followed after him, grumbling under her breath as the sweater-clad male lead the way over to the damaged storage container at the far end of the building, which it seemed had been made into its own separate area.

Alistair entered a room that was obviously meant to serve as a kitchen. It had one wall lined with crates, atop which sat several plates of washed and polished sheet metal that acted as a makeshift countertop, which held an old battery-powered hotplate held together by duct tape, and a teakettle beside it.

At the far end of the room was a small beer fridge sitting on a box, unplugged since there was no outlet, and an old wardrobe with one of the doors missing, in which was set a number of disposable dishes.

"I still have a hard time believing you didn't at least steal the fridge." Commented Renee as she came out of her slump

Alistair huffed. "I'll have you know I've never stolen a thing in my life." he said, walking over to said small appliance. "But you would be surprised what people throw out without even thinking. That hotplate was only a little cracked; still totally useable."

The male pulled a tin of coffee mix and a three-gallon bottle of water from his fridge, then turned from his wardrobe and opened the remaining door to search for a couple of worn and chipped mugs. "If I recall, you take your coffee with one milk and one sugar. Correct?" he asked, and she confirmed with a nod.

It didn't take long for the water to boil and the drink to finish brewing, and they eventually had their hot mugs, which they carried out into the main workshop once more, only to take a left and head towards a set of metal stairs at the far side of the building. They climbed up into what was once the foreman's office, which was now swept clean of even the most stubborn filth and made into a sleeping quarters for the current resident of the building.

It wasn't the most spectacular room, but it was spacious enough to hold in it a sleeping bag, a desk, and a nightstand, all of which were bereft of anything that could add flavor to the room, as it had all seemingly been packed into a bag sitting in the corner, with the exception of a thick, leather book bag.

The teens made their way to the far end of the room and out a door that lead onto a balcony overlooking the waterfront, on which they stood and stared out at the stars and the shattered moon in the sky. They remained there for a moment of silence before Alistair spoke up again. "You know; Beacon is not going to be anything like the streets of Vale, nor are the Grimm like common thugs. Aura or no." he cautioned her, receiving a nod in return.

It was clear that the girl knew he was right, yet she appeared totally calm at the idea. "Yeah, but we know how to deal with rough times, and the academy is there to _teach_ us how to fight the Grimm. As long as we stick together, we should be ok." she said with a confident, reassuring smile.

Alistair gave a light laugh. "For as clichéd as that sounded…" he started, for which she stuck her tongue out at him "Your words hold merit. We've known each other for years now, so it's natural that we can overcome any obstacle together." he finished the thought.

The girl looked triumphant at having been justified as the male finished his coffee. "At the moment, though, the only obstacle I have to face is the _ungodly_ amount of scrap lying around. Care to help out?" he requested.

The girl looked thoughtful "It depends… what's in it for me?" she asked, getting a deadpan look from the male.

"I can uninstall the software on your scroll that- Mmph!" he didn't get to finish when the girl's face lit up with a blush and she threw her hands over his mouth.

"It's a deal!" 

**Xxxxxx **

After a few hours of packing, the mess that had once been the warehouse had finally been cleaned up and stuffed into various crates, by which point the broken moon had reached the peak of it's ascent in the night's sky.

The corner of Alistair's mouth quirked when he glanced at Renee, whose tail had been bandaged up thanks to an unfortunate run-in with a mousetrap when she attempted to loot something; though the look on her friend's face told her it wasn't as accidental as he made it out to be.

Despite a small number of similar setbacks, they managed to get the room to look relatively acceptable as the majority of the clutter had been organized and packed. Alistair nodded as he observed his now cleaner work area, then looked at the girl beside him, her shirt dirty and some dust on her face, but still smiling.

They both then glanced upwards and noticed the position of the moon. Renee stretched and yawned "Midnight already, huh?" The girl then turned to her friend "Mind if I crash here tonight?" she asked him.

The boy chuckled. "But of course. Would you like me to wake you early tomorrow?" he asked, knowing she would need to get up early in order shower and groom herself before catching the airship to Beacon, which she confirmed with a nod.

He mirrored the gesture. "Alright then. We'd best get some sleep for the big day."

"That sounds like a plan…" she said, looking down at the bandage on her tail. "I swear… This had better stop stinging tomorrow." she sulked briefly.

He chuckled and turned to leave "And with that, I bid goodnight. Oh, and _do_ try to avoid getting caught in another mousetrap." he warned her teasingly as he turned to leave.

The girl glared and stuck her tongue out at him. "Ass." she muttered with a pout, before dropping herself down on the couch and drifting off to sleep.

Meanwhile, the male made his way back to his makeshift bedroom and slipped into his sleeping bag with a smile, shutting off the lamp. He knew that in a day's time, his life would change for the better.

"_This should be an… interesting experience."_ he thought to himself, before closing his eyes.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

**A/N: And that, my friends, is a wrap! **

**(1): I know that there's no England in the world of Remnant, but this is for your benefit so I don't just say "he has an accent" and expect you to guess it without having read further.**

**(2): Yes, this proves that even in the future, nothing works… 20 points to whoever gets that reference **

**(3): That, or a group of angry hipster vigilantes.**

**(4): Please tell me I'm not the only one who notices that her cape does this sometimes.**

**(5): Seriously, how bad of a person do you have to be when you cheer at the possible immolation of a couple of high school kids?**

**(6): Take that little moment how you will…**

**(7): There were actually clothes lines out there. Watch that scene again.**

**(8): Yeah… I'm pretty sure you lot were thinking I was ship teasing Ruby/OC earlier, weren't you?**

**Alright, so this is a rewrite of my first chapter! Let's face it, the previous iteration was far from perfect, so tell me what you think of the new version.**

**I basically gutted the entire second half of the chapter and reworked it because of how many mistakes there were, such as the layout of Alistair's workshop and some of his interactions with Renee. **

**That aside, I only removed the use of "milady" because it made him sound like a hipster. It was supposed to be more of his playful nature shining through, and given his more antiquated speech patterns, I thought it would it, but I gave it some thought and figured it didn't work. I'll be doing the same for later chapters too.**

**Finally, I completely hewed the paragraphs explaining Dust and Grimm, Which I'll explain more a little further down.**

**Before any of you ask; No, I don't think it was necessary at all to have Alistair intervene with Ruby's fight. Even with the added firepower, she could have easily taken on those thugs, but it would have been dull if the first chapter didn't have any conflict or action in it, and I needed to add something to it in order to lengthen the chapter to an acceptable level. Plus, this was a good way to showcase Alistair's primary combat ability and give you better insight into his character and thought process, both in and out of combat. **

**Speaking of his personality, you may have noticed he speaks with a strange speech pattern. The inspiration hit me at random and I decided to experiment with it, but basically I imagine him speaking in an English accent that's very proper, but simultaneously casual. Sort of how you'd imagine in classic literature or certain English television programs if you know what I mean. I guess it fits in with his character theme. **

**Look at the Sherlock movies or maybe Dr. Who to see something like what I mean.**

**Now onto the topic of explanation paragraphs I mentioned above. For the unaware; this sort of paragraph essentially turns to the reader and says "This is how the world works." or "This is how the main character did what he did." while explaining the mechanics of everything. **

**I did those in earlier variants of this chapter with the Grimm, Dust, and the concept of huntsmen and huntresses, but now that I've improved and have a better understanding for the flow of the story, I figure that I could do it better. So I intend to. **

**That said; I feel like I should leave this little mini-rant here for the benefit of my fellow authors, so here it is.**

**I don't like using these paragraphs… at all**

**I don't like writing them or reading them because it literally stops the story short just to explain something that could be explained later on in a more natural manner, breaking the flow of a scene and overall just making the chapter itself feel more messy and disorganized. The only reason I even did it here is because most people who read fanfic of a particular story already know the lore, and I'm pretty sure most of you are RWBY fans yourselves, but at the same time there are those out there who might not know the series very well and decided to read this for one reason or another. The show itself also had entire mini-episodes to explain these concepts to lore junkies such as myself. While I'm grateful for this, it's not something that flows well in written format unless a chapter is specifically dedicated to it. **

**Instead, I prefer to let the explanations be revealed gradually to the reader through in-story dialogue between the characters, making it fit in with the story and not break the "immersion" so to speak. **

**The reason I thought this kind of chapter was even needed in the story is because Remnant is so much different from Earth that all these terms are common knowledge. For instance, Dust is more-or-less their version of electricity, among other things, so you'll never hear a character sit down and ask "What's Dust?" to another, and any attempts to do so would be out of place and artificial. **

**In addition to this, the show had the introductory animation and the season 2 mini-episode to explain what Dust was (Along with the Grimm), but for the sake of this story, I wanted to get this out of the way early on so I didn't have readers wandering off to Wikipedia to search up a topic half way through a fight sequence where I used the term. I also felt it would have been awkward constantly calling it "The crystals" or "Strange energy" to keep with the flow. Of course, I still rather like how I delivered these explanation in previous iterations, and I plan to maybe bring them back in a similar format, but through conversation and a more natural method in-universe later on.**

**In a way, I also feel it might have added something in the narration of the story and dramatically setting up for Torchwick's appearance. I think it felt at least a little flush with the flow of the story. What do you think?**

**That said, don't expect too many of these, if at all, as I plan on explaining everything through natural dialogue, which means you may not know a few things about this alternate universe world of Remnant, but I feel it's actually better that way. It adds to the "Aha!" moment you get upon figuring something out for yourself and as I said before, it gives a feel of immersion in this world. I know most of you probably don't care about this little issue, but I felt I should at least bring it up, if only to make myself feel better.**

**Alright, my little rant's over. Now, let's play a game!**

**No, not **_**that**_** type of game, you filthy pervert… I have another fic for that. **

**I am challenging you, the readers, to guess what characters I based the OC's in this chapter off of. Here are a few hints; **

**One of them has a Japanese origin while the other is European/British.**

**None of the characters were created in contemporary times.**

**They might be a little obscure.**

**If maybe seven of you can guess one or more of the character inspirations, I will reveal them in an Author's Note either at the beginning or the end of whatever chapter comes after enough of you have guessed. **

**In the meantime, I'll be working on other stories and will continue to rewrite this fic for later, so look forward to more content in the future. That aside, please note that the general popularity of my fanfictions will indicate which one I focus on more. I'm not going to waste my time writing something you don't want to see, nor will I totally ignore fan favorites.**

**Well, that's all I have to say for now! Thank you all for stopping by, and until next time, I'll see you all in the next chapter!**

**Buh-bye!**


	3. A Bright Future

From Ashes

Chapter 2: A Bright Future

**Ladies and gentlemen! I present to you the rewrite for the second chapter of "From Ashes!" and the story of Alistair Greyfield!**

**I'm sorry for taking so bloody long on this one! However, as I'm sure you may have seen by now, I've been working on another fanfiction, which has honestly been taking up so much of my time. On top of that, I've had some personal life things (Nothing to worry about), a lack of inspiration, and the general drawbacks of being born a "Special flower" to deal with… that is to say, I've got a mental disorder... putting it nicely.**

**On a lighter note, I would like to announce a project I have going on the story. I am holding a competition of sorts in which you, the readers, can now have a chance at submitting a profile for one or more OC's you might want to see put into the story.**

**For more details, either visit my page or go to the AN post-Chapter 5.**

**Well, there's not much else to say, so I'll just let you read this crappy fic.**

"Speech"

'_Thought/Reading'_

"Synthesized/Robotic Speech"

*Onomatopoeia* (sound effect)

**(Author's Note)**

**Xxxxxx Scene Change xxxxxx**

**xxxxxx **Scene Break

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any materials referenced here. RWBY is the machination of Monty Oum (Rest his soul) and property of Roosterteeth.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

A pair of grey eyes swept back and forth over his surroundings with a bored expression as Alistair sat in the airport waiting for the ship to Beacon Academy to be announced on the P.A. system overhead, his body clad in a new set of clothes.

He wore a white, long sleeved button-shirt under a dark brown vest with grey dress pants and a red tie, a thin armband on his right bicep adorned with a stainless steel clip that bore the symbol he'd worn on his gauntlet during the fight the previous evening; the gear and the animal eye. His feet were clad in plain black shoes and his hair was combed neatly into a flowing look with a few locks framing his face, and only his blonde bang falling down his brow, similarly to his appearance the previous night but far more well kempt. All-in-all, he looked like he was ready to attend either a fancy dinner party or a meeting with a high-class executive, though the look was ruined by the fact he had at his side a thick, black leather book bag that looked like it was meant to hold some thick encyclopedia of some sort.

"_Let's see here…"_ he mused silently to himself _"We have a number of strong looking prospective students… but that being said, this is Beacon Academy, so a generally well-built student body is expected."_

Alistair paused his passive observation of the surroundings and looked down at a watch on his wrist, before adjusting the cuff of the sleeve and looking fondly at it with a small smile, recalling exactly how he came to possess the outfit that very morning.

**Xxx Flashback xxx**

_ Alistair sat up in his bed with a stretch and a yawn, readying himself for the day ahead of him. He pushed his body out of the sleeping bag and stood, still clad in only his boxers, and he was about to lean down to collect a set of his street clothes when he noticed another outfit he didn't recognize folded up on top of his nightstand, and perched atop these clothes was a folded scrap of paper. Alistair's right brow rose marginally as he examined this unusual occurrence, looking over the apparent gift closely, as though making sure it wasn't trapped or bugged._

_He only grew more curious upon realizing that it was safe, so he quickly retrieved the letter and unfolded it, reading the text at the top. "To mon ami; Alistair."_

"_At least they know me on a first name basis." he mused, before reading the note aloud in a soft accent. "I heard you're going out to Beacon soon and decided to drop by and hand you a going away present… though I'm sure you'll be dropping by for the occasional visit, but I digress. Anyways, last night I noticed you were still walking around in those ratty old street clothes you had on when we last met, and while they're good for hiding your identity, that old wash board hasn't been good to them, so I decided to get you a new set of clothes to go with your new life as a huntsman…" _

_The brunette trailed off when he read that part, massaging his brow. "That's definitely Andre." he muttered with a sigh before reading on._

"_I managed to acquire the funds for this outfit and had Paul refit the whole thing to be combat ready." he paused and frowned, glancing over at the clothes suspiciously. "He said something about mono-fibers or some sort of filaments, I didn't really pay attention, but he said that it won't get in the way of any of your inventions and has been well grounded for any 'accidents' you might have."_

_Once more, Alistair paused, groaning in irritation before continuing his reading. "Anyways, good luck on your new adventure, and thanks for letting my sister stay with you: Andre." his eyes traveled down the page a bit and he couldn't help the annoyed tick that developed in his brow._

"'_P.S. try not to blow up too much school property'… Sarcastic prick." Alistair swore lightly as he turned to his new clothes. _

_He sighed "Well, I suppose he was considerate enough to buy me a gift." he said, before trying on the outfit._

**Xxx End Flashback xxx**

Alistair had been surprised when he put on his new wardrobe.

Apparently, the letter hadn't lied about it's supposed comfort and combat effectiveness, seeing that the clothes were very loose and flexible making for quick movement and easy maneuvering in even the most awkward and unorthodox positions; he was tempted to say his skin was more likely to tear than the clothes were.

Even the shoes were deceptively comfortable and were designed with as much traction as an above-average hiking boot, though they had far more flexibility. Clearly whatever this Andre fellow had done to the outfit must have cost a fair bit, and that's not even counting what it would have cost for such fine clothes before they were altered.

Of course, Alistair wasn't going to think too much about that. The suit was combat ready and even stain resistant; not something that one could find in the bargain bin.

Speaking of the stain-proofing, the grey eyed male had to chuckle at the memory of how he discovered that little tidbit. Or rather, the circumstances surrounding that knowledge.

**Xxx Flashback (Again) xxx **

_ Alistair entered the workshop portion of his home, adjusting the cuff of his new shirt, only to stop in his tracks and look up upon hearing the stirring of his fox-tailed friend, Renee as she reclined on his couch, passed out with a droplet of drool on her face in a very un-ladylike manner._

_The male sighed for the third time that morning. 'Right, I almost forgot about her.' he thought to himself as he approached his friend's unconscious form. He looked down at her and grimaced, making sure to keep at least a few meters away from her. _

"_Now, how am I to go about this?" he asked himself as though examining some sort of unfamiliar conundrum or a particularly hard puzzle. Though by the way he flinched and stepped back when the woman twitched, it appeared that the situation was something like one of those dangerous puzzle traps that could be found in an old pyramid or temple from an adventure movie. _

"_Only in place of a boulder or flesh-eating acid, we have an irate faunus girl with the reflexes of a kung-fu expert." the male mused with a frown._

_He hummed as he stood across from the said faunus for another second, before an idea occurred to him and he turned to walk over to one of the crates he had in the corner, full of random assorted scrap that didn't have much place but could probably still be put to use later. _

_There, he began to rifle through the junk until he found what he was looking for and withdrew a long radio antenna, which he extended to its full length. As expected, he then returned to the girl and reached out with the metal rod, stretching his arm as far as he could to keep his vital points out of striking range. _

_It was smart of him to do that, because the moment the antenna touched the girl's cheek, it was brutally snapped in half by a horizontal variation of a high-kick, showing an amazing display of flexibility and immense strength. Said kick was delivered with enough force to send the broken tip of the metal rod flying towards the wall far to Alistair's right, where it was embedded into the reinforced concrete. _

_Rather than reacting with shock or terror, Alistair once more sighed in exasperation. "And with that, I have a new hat rack… what else was I expecting, really?" he grunted to himself in annoyance as he massaged his brow. He could almost feel a headache coming on._

_He looked back down at his friend, only to see her still unconscious, having been left completely unaffected by the prodding moments ago. He could only grumble at the image as he stood there, a hand on his chin as he looked down at her with a contemplative expression and tried to think up a solution to his present issue._

_He only remained like that for a moment before he perked up, a devilish smirk making its way to his features as he concocted a plan. Discarding the remnants of the antenna, tossing it half way across the large room and into the crate he got it from, he turned to his right and marched towards the cargo container that acted as his "kitchen." _

"_Time for plan B." he muttered._

_**Xxx Moments Later xxx**_

_The male returned from behind the curtain that separated the hallway from his workshop with two steaming mugs in hand and his grin still in place._

_Standing with his back against the wall between Renee and the exit, Alistair took a deep breath before shouting "Renee! Get up! You're going to be late!" in a desperate tone that completely contradicted his cruelly smiling visage. This declaration did the trick in waking the girl, and needless to say, she was in a state of panic. _

"_Gah! What time is it!?" Renee shouted, her voice taking on a French accent _**(1)**_ as she leapt to her feet, and Alistair had to reign in a chuckle as he tinged his voice with urgency to match her own._

"_It's 8:30! If you rush, you may be able to get something to eat before the airship leaves!" he exclaimed. _

_The girl cursed to herself under her breath. "Alright! Thanks!" she shouted, before rushing to the door, grabbing one of the mugs out of his hand on the way out._

_After a few moments, Alistair finally dropped the façade and was left to chuckle over his prank. "I'll likely pay for that, but it was worth every moment to see that face." he said, turning to the clock on the wall just as it ticked up to 7:00 am._

_He then looked down at his own coffee, only to notice that the sleeve on the arm not holding his cup had been stained when Renee took her own mug. "Damn it… on the first day." he muttered, immediately regretting the prank._

**Xxx End Flashback xxx**

As it turned out, he just had to pat the shirt dry to remove all marks from it, which surprised him somewhat, but he wasn't complaining.

That aside, his prediction turned out to be correct when, on his way to the station, he got a text that read _'I just saw the clock! You're an ass!'_ from Renee, which nearly caused him to burst out laughing in the middle of the street. He knew she'd be gunning for him until she got her revenge, so he was a little on edge, but he hadn't seen her since the incident, meaning she wasn't there at the moment to take him down.

'_On one hand, this is a good thing'_ the male thought to himself_ 'simply for the fact that she can't immediately ambush me on our first day at Beacon, which would be bad…'_ His back went rigid and a nervous laugh burst forth from him._ 'On the other hand, this also means that I'm giving time to plot. She's likely hiding in the shadows at this very moment, planning my demise._'

A shiver shot up his spine at the idea. Clearly he was now questioning his decision.

His ruminations were brought to an end when an overhead intercom system announced "All passengers to Beacon Academy, please report to terminals 3-6." and with that, he stood up before making his way over to the said terminal.

**Xxxxxx **

Once he was on the airship, he immediately took a seat on a bench across from one of the craft's windows and withdrew from his bag the camera he'd been holding the previous night before his conflict with Roman Torchwick at the Dust shop.

He opened the back of the device once more and began to examine its inner workings casually, withdrawing a small screwdriver from his sleeve and loosening some of the parts so he could move them around for a better view. This lasted only a few moments before he was distracted by the voice of a newscaster coming from one of the holographic screens that levitated near one of the windows to the outside world.

"… The robbery is confirmed to be linked with known criminal Roman Torchwick, who is still at large for numerous offences. Among which are robbery, money laundering, extortion, and property damage." Alistair had to prevent himself from jolting upright upon hearing this news, only allowing the most minor of twitches to indicate he even acknowledged the news feed. An image appeared on the screen of the Dust shop from the previous night, whose front entrance was marked off with yellow tape, though it appeared that there wasn't anything unusual about it.

A field reporter began speaking in place of the anchorwoman. "As you can see here, the front entrance has been left undamaged, but the front window is broken from what looks like a force from inside the shop, with glass shards scattered about the street. Police have also declined to comment on the damaged street lights and the warped road." she explained. "Though the public property damage is estimated to be over one-thousand lien."

Alistair nearly dropped the camera, sputtering nervously.

The image cut back to the anchorwoman in the studio "Is there any possibility it's connected to the theft in a local convenience store that occurred at around the same time?" she asked, and the image swapped back to the other woman.

Said reporter shook her head. "The authorities don't believe so, there were several key differences in the approaches taken by the two groups, as well as what was stolen. It appears that this particular group was only after the merchandise, whereas the break-ins seemed targeted more at the businesses safes and went unnoticed until the next morning." she informed.

"You say the robbery isn't connected, then who is believed to have perpetrated the crime?" asked the anchorwoman's voice.

"There has been no conclusive evidence as to the identity of the thief or thieves," said the reporter "but many local citizens claim that this shop has been known to refuse services to faunus, leading to assumptions that the faunus-only extremist group, the White Fang is behind this burglary."

Calming his nerves, Alistair let out a breath at that declaration. "I highly doubt the White Fang could pull off anything with any degree of finesse. They'd probably smash the windows just to 'send a message' or some other such nonsense." he said quietly to himself with a half-chuckle at the supposed implausibility as he stopped listening to the newscast and turned away.

He would have returned to his camera, had his attention not been caught by another male who was sitting a seat away from him and looked like he was about to flee the airship at the slightest provocation, the reason for which escaped the young tinkerer.

This male was about as tall as Alistair and had a blond mop of messy hair that fell down to his brow, beneath which sat a set of sapphire blue eyes. He had on a simple set of torn blue jeans and a black hoodie with red lining on the inside, over which he wore a set of white armored pauldrons and a chest plate, held firmly to his body with leather straps. Alistair also noted a sheathed broadsword at his hip. At least he thought so; he wasn't good at differentiating those sorts of double-edged blades.

After his brief examination of the nervous-looking boy, the brunette huntsman-to-be sighed quietly to himself before quirking a brow. "You _do_ realize I won't bite." he said to the blond, causing him to start in surprise.

The guy shook it off a second later and gave a sheepish laugh. "S-Sorry." he replied "It's just that I'm a bit- well- nervous about this year. Y'know?" he informed, scratching his head awkwardly.

Alistair nodded "Fair enough." he said simply, and was about to disengage the conversation and return to his camera, but was stopped once again when a hand extended out to him.

"Jaune Arc." the blond introduced himself, surprising Alistair for a second.

He was quick to recover and grasped the blue eyed male's hand in his own. "Alistair Greyfield. A pleasure." he returned courteously. The newly named Jaune immediately relaxed, apparently glad to have found someone who was willing to be polite on his first day for some reason. The brunette couldn't tell why he would assume otherwise.

"Same." he said, only to pause upon seemingly realizing he didn't know where else to go with the conversation. His eyes immediately traveled down towards the camera in his new acquaintance's hands and made note of how it was partially disassembled. "So, uh, what are you doing there?" he asked, attempting to make conversation.

The grey eyed male's face slowly shifted from a pleasant, if neutral, tone to a look of utter excitement as he brightened up considerably, only to forcibly temper himself.

The male then looked down at his camera again. "What, this?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "It's a new model. I'm trying to figure out how it works." he explained.

Jaune looked confused. "You… uhh… you like to tinker, then?" he asked

Alistair couldn't keep the barest of smiles from crawling onto his face. "Of course!" came an emphatic answer, just shy of a shout. "Machines are my life's work! Every aspect of their components are just so fascinating, and I always do enjoy the feeling of picking them apart and figuring out how the function." he explained, earning a nervous laugh from the blonde.

"I see. Well, I was never… really interested in machines." said the male, scratching his head.

The inventor shrugged. "It's not all that difficult, once you understand how each part functions. It's like a puzzle with no set instructions; you simply have to find out how best to fit pieces together to make them work. One piece does something and another piece reacts as needed. It's intriguing."

The two males fell into silence as the young inventor continued to fiddle with the machine in his hands, however this was laced with a bit of awkward tension on part of the blond as he leaned over his new "friend's" shoulder to stare at the device intently. Alistair would have thought he was trying to figure out how the machine worked, however his gaze was clearly confused and uncomprehending, indicating to him that this teen had no idea what he was looking at.

The brown-haired inventor decided to throw the teen a proverbial bone, so he glanced over and asked "Would you like me to explain anything?" in a tone that was totally genuine, causing the blond to flinch and stammer.

Jaune cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I-I don't need an explanation. *ahem* I know exactly what you're doing there. I _am_ a huntsman in training, after all." he said rather hastily, yet full of false confidence.

Alistair had to give credit where it was due, that bluff was rather impressive.

'_But still obvious nonetheless.'_ The well-dressed huntsman in training then turned to the other male with a cynical look that said he didn't believe him in the slightest, causing him to grow more nervous than previously.

"You understand this, do you?" he asked, and the blue-eyed teen nodded hesitantly. "Then what do you call this part?" asked the inventor, gesturing randomly to a component; he wasn't even looking at it, but from the uneasy glance, he knew Jaune couldn't answer him.

Still, the blond at least attempted to give a reply. "That's the… uhh… motherboard?" he said more unsurely than Alistair had seen him thus far.

Confident in his victory, the grey eyed male looked down at the component, only to pause in shock and blink owlishly at what he saw. "That's… a broken Dorito chip covered in grease…" he muttered in surprise, plucking the snack from the camera and flicking it away.

Jaune, on the other hand, slouched miserably "Al-Alright… I'll admit that I know almost nothing about computers…" he groaned, only to turn up to Alistair desperately "But _please_ don't tell anyone." he pleaded.

The brunette just sighed "You _do _realize that you are not required to know these things, right?" he asked the blond, who looked up at him in surprise.

"Wait really?" asked the knight.

Alistair rolled his eyes "Of course. So long as you can keep your weapons serviced, then you've no need to worry." he explained.

The boy to scratch his head sheepishly. "Err… Right. I'll keep that in mind." he muttered.

Alistair raised a brow in the direction of the scrawny looking boy, obviously confused about his strange, nervous demeanor, and he was about to speak on it, only for the sound of a girl's voice to catch his attention. "Ohhh! I'm so proud of you!" cried the female, catching the attention of both males, who looked over to see a pair of girls standing nearby.

The taller of which was very mature in terms of figure, being very tall and voluptuous with a set of breasts that many would consider outrageous; even moreso with how they were barely restrained by her shirt. Alistair, being of a more "practical" mind, wasn't distracted by those specific qualities so much as the layer of lean muscle he saw on the girl, indicating she was physically a very powerful fighter, and the healthy tone of her skin indicated she spent a lot of time outside, as opposed to his own pallor.

That said, the task of viewing either set of "assets" was made infinitely easier by the fact that she didn't seem to have many reservations when it came to showing off her figure.

She was clad in a brown leather jacket, which was tight enough to hug her figure when done up, but had obviously been altered to fit her breasts without constricting them. Under the jacket, she wore a tight yellow shirt with what looked like a black emblem depicting a stylized burning heart over the left side of her chest, where her own heart was located beneath. Both tops were short sleeved and cut off above her belly button, nicely exposing her well-toned midriff and her slender, yet still very powerful arms, allowing Alistair a view of the upper body strength she seemingly possessed. Around her hips, she wore a loose fitting leather belt with a series of brown leather banners hanging from it, beneath which hung a pale lavender veil that descended to the backs of her knees. Her thighs, while hidden from the back, were exposed from the front by a pair of black spandex shorts that allowed for maximum mobility, however everything below her knees was covered by a set of uneven orange socks that lead down into a pair of brown leather combat boots.

Whatever she was wearing, however, would be lost on anyone at first glance because of her most obvious and striking of feature; her flowing, blonde hair. It was wavy and light looking, apparently adding a little to her overall height, and making it difficult for Alistair to discern her measurement. It was such a bright color that it seemed to glow in the sunlight, which reflected in her vibrant purple eyes that shone like amethyst gems, making her very being radiate a golden aura.

All observations Alistair had on the blond girl completely faded once he saw exactly _who_ she was hugging, and he had to cringe as his eyes landed on Ruby, the girl from the previous night who he'd assisted in ending the Dust shop robbery. "Of all the _blighted_ luck…" he muttered under his breath.

'_If that girl- Ruby, was it?- If she recognizes me… I doubt she'll be able to keep my identity quiet for long.'_ the grey-eyed boy went a little pale at the thought. _'I can't afford to repair those lights, or the damage to the roads.'_

His earlier curse caught Jaune's attention, causing him to turn and address the other male. "Huh? You say something?" asked the teen.

Alistair was quick to catch himself and rubbed his head. "It's nothing. Simply lamenting that we boarded the ship that's filled with loud girls." he said with a soft chuckle, waving off the other male's concerns rather easily, though his mind was going a mile a minute.

'_I can't risk her recognizing me from the previous night. All I have to do is avoid talking to her for at least a semester. Then, everything will have hopefully blown over and maybe, just maybe, she'll forget my voice.'_ A stern, determined expression set upon his features as he nodded to himself.

His attention was brought back to reality when the blond elbowed him lightly in the side "Hey…" he said "What do you think my chances are with the blonde?" he asked, causing the inventor to look at him quizzically.

"What makes you think I'm a good judge for such things?" he asked, and the paladin-looking boy shrugged.

"I dunno, you're a guy?" he asked, almost causing the brunette to snort at the absurdity of the idea.

Instead, though, he looked back at the bombshell of a girl, his eyes flickering briefly towards Ruby as he did so, before he turned to Jaune again. "You want my honest opinion?" he asked.

The blond boy nodded, only for Alistair to shake his head with a sigh "I'd wager my camera has better chances with her than you do." he joked, holding up the device for emphasis.

Jaune's shoulders slumped and he looked depressed "You didn't have to be so blunt…" he said, causing the male to chuckle as he leaned back.

"_Do_ relax, I was merely joking." he said, lifting the boy's spirits a bit.

The blond looked at his friend "Really? I have a chance?" he asked, and the grey eyed male shrugged.

"However slim they may be, at least your chances are a fair sight better than the camera." he said. Suddenly, his brows furrowed in thought "Though if I were to install a motor in here, I could probably make it vibrate…" he mused, totally serious.

After a moment of thought, he glanced briefly over at Jaune, only to double-take when he saw that the male's face had lit up a bright cherry red and his mouth was hanging agape at the implications of hid new friend's words. Alistair, for his part, was merely confused. "What?" he asked, and the blond just put a fist to his mouth and coughed into it.

"N-Nothing…" he replied, though his face was still red. Alistair just shrugged off the unusual blond boy and returned to discreetly examining the pair of girls out the corner of his eye, though it was mainly so he could get a grasp on Ruby's disposition and what she knew of the incident.

"- I don't wanna be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl, with normal knees!" she said, and the brunette was immediately thrown for a loop.

'_Wha-What sort of conversation are these women having…?'_ he asked himself blandly, his eyes staring blankly at the camera in his hands with a mild twitch.

"What's wrong with you? Aren't you excited?" asked the blond.

The silver eyed girl looked down at her feet shyly. "Of course I'm excited. It's just… I got moved ahead two years, I don't want people to think I'm special or anything." she explained.

From his seat, Alistair sighed and nodded to himself _'Well that explains why she's here. I had a feeling she looked a bit young for Beacon.'_ he thought as he returned to his camera, content in the knowledge that the girl was apparently too preoccupied to bother with looking for his identity. _'Still, I should watch myself around her. She seems a gentle soul, however she's too impulsive; she might blow my cover.'_

He was once more broken from his attempt at figuring out his camera's inner workings by a female voice, only this one obviously came from a more mature woman. "Hello and welcome to Beacon." she said calmly.

Immediately, Alistair's head shot up and his eyes grew wide, as he recognized the voice as belonging to the blond huntress from the evening prior. Fortunately for him, though, he was met with a holographic image of the woman, rather than the real thing, which had taken the place of the television screens that had been there moments before. _'Luckily, our interaction was brief… though she's still another one I have to be careful around.'_ he thought with a cringe.

"Who's that?" asked the blond girl with Ruby

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch"

"Oh."

Alistair briefly shot the girl a dry look as the more mature woman continued to speak. "All of you present to hear this message are among the privileged few who have earned the right to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace…" she said, and the brown-haired male couldn't help his sigh.

He had to restrain the urge to chuckle dryly at her choice of words. "Grimm burning down entire villages, the white fang terrorizing humanity, people ostracizing members of their own society based on how their ears look? 'Peace' is more of a relative term, good lady." he mused quietly to himself.

Jaune, it seemed, heard his little rant and gave him a quizzical look, though he either didn't want to risk antagonizing his new friend or simply couldn't disagree with the logic, because the blue-eyed boy remained quiet and returned to listening to Glynda's projection speak. The inventor, on the other hand, was less inclined to do so, and instead returned to his camera…

Only to find himself distracted yet _again_ when Jaune stood to look out the window across from them as the holograms dispersed.

Of course, the blond beckoned him to come look, and Alistair couldn't bring himself to deny the other boy, so he stood and stowed the camera in his bag, taking care not to lose any of the parts, before he made his way over to the window beside the teen.

Looking out, Alistair found himself staring at a beautiful vista of the city and surrounding landscape/sea as viewed from the eyes of a bird, flying at least a hundred meters above the city. A small smile broke out on his face as he witnessed it. "Well, I suppose Mrs. Goodwitch wasn't all wrong. This _is_ actually… rather peaceful." he said in contradiction to his previous statement, earning a little grin from Jaune.

The blond nodded "Yeah… I guess this is why hunters like us fight, huh?" he asked awkwardly with a laugh, obviously not one for poetry or eloquent speech; still, Alistair had to nod at his words

"True enough…" the grey eyed boy agreed with a smile.

His demeanor changed to a more casual one moments later. "Though keep in mind that we aren't hunters quite yet. We've still got a ways to go before we're out on the front lines, taking missions and the like" he cautioned.

Jaune scratched his head and squirmed nervously. "R-Right… the front lines… l-let's just take our time before going out there." he said, squirming in place as he looked out the window. Alistair's only response was to chuckle and cross his arms with a nod, joining his new friend in taking in the view…

However, this lasted only a few seconds, before he glanced over and noticed the once healthy pallor of the teen's face turn a sickly green, and his body hunched over. Knowing what was to come, the brunette stepped back away from the window and made way for the other male to run past him on his way to find… something to throw up into.

This was a smart move on his part, as it was only a moment later when Jaune darted off down the hall in a seemingly random direction to do just that, leaving other people standing nearby to look at him in amusement, worry, or disgust.

Alistair watched with a brow raised as his friend went running past the two girls, only to pause as his steely grey met the sparkling silver of Ruby, at which point the girl stared at him for a mere moment before looking away from him.

At first, worry lanced through the male's heart. _'Did she…?'_ he questioned himself, but a quick observation revealed that her expression wasn't one of recognition. Rather, it was a shy, withdrawn look that was tinged with embarrassment, likely at being caught staring. This brought a sigh of relief to his lips. _'At least she didn't notice me at first glance. That's… promising, right?'_ he wondered as he turned away, content in the knowledge he'd gleaned from her face.

"Eww, gross!" shouted Ruby unexpectedly, and Alistair turned once more in surprise, noticing that the girl had leapt away from her blond friend and was pointing at her boots, aghast at what she saw. The tinkerer looked down and took a step back as well upon seeing a running puddle of yellowish liquid that indicated Jaune had been less-than-successful at finding a receptacle to throw up in.

"You have barf on your shoe!" shouted the red-hooded girl as she attempted to escape the puddle.

"Ah!" the blond shouted, then began to chant "Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross-!" as she mimicked the other girl's escape attempts.

Alistair was smart enough to leap up onto one of the benches and crouch with his feet off the floor to avoid getting his new shoes covered in bile. "Ye gods, that can't be good for the leather…" he muttered.

**Xxxxxx Beacon Academy; Air dock xxxxxx **

Alistair stepped off the airship and into the fresh air of the academy grounds, glad to be away from the now sour stench of the ship's hallways.

*Blergh! Blah!*

… At least until said sour stench managed to follow him outdoors.

He turned to his left and saw Jaune bent over one of the nearby garbage cans, regurgitating everything but his own liver into it. Sighing, the brunette took pity on the boy and gave the back of his armored torso a light pat to help the process along.

"Take your time here." he said, before curling his nose. "If you need me, I'll be waiting… upwind." he informed, backing away from the lad, who only gave a weak thumbs up before returning to his vomiting. Alistair merely shook his head with a sigh as he turned and walked away from the scene "I hope this won't become a theme with him." he muttered

After walking a few dozen meters towards the school (the front courtyard was massive!), the male paused as he was met, once again, with the image of Ruby, only this time she was laying on her back in a pile of metal suitcases that obviously didn't belong to her, if the irate-looking albino girl nearby was any indication.

The male just sighed quietly. _'I simply can __not__ be rid of this girl.'_ he thought to himself as the said albino proceeded to cuss out Ruby, not that he could hear them from the distance he was at. He was, however, interested by the image of the pale-skinned female. _'I know her from somewhere… but where?'_

As stated previously, she had pure white hair and pale skin, labeling her as an albino in his eyes, though rather than red or pink, her eyes were actually a glacial blue that were held in a frosty glare as she berated the red cloaked girl. The only thing that marred her otherwise flawless skin was a single, small scar over one of her eyes, the strip of light pink tissue standing out against the almost milky white shade of her visage. Her neatly-combed hair was done up in a single ponytail that sat off to the side of her head in an odd, uneven fashion, held up by a silver snowflake hairpin that looked rather expensive to his eye, much like the earrings hanging from her head and the necklace dangling over her moderate chest. Her figure was slim and obviously looked more suited for swift and agile movement, which was aided by the fact that she was obviously quite short for her age; even shorter than Ruby without her boots.

On that note; her ensemble, much like her features, bespoke an ice queen. She wore a simple white dress, complete with battle skirt that faded to a very light blue at the ends, before ending in a snowflake pattern that splayed out at the sides. The dress looked something like what a figure skater would wear, if a bit less gaudy and more fashionable, but that image was changed by the presence of a bolero jacket over her upper torso that matched the dress perfectly in both color and design, though the inside lining of the jacket was a bright red. To finish off the ensemble, she wore a set of white, knee-high combat boots with high heels and thick soles, both of which together made her look at least three or four inches taller than she really was.

Alistair noticed that the girl retrieved one of the suitcases from the ground and had pulled from it a vial of red powder with a cork in the top to stop it from escaping. However it was made perfectly clear that said cork was loose when she picked it up and started to wave it in front of Ruby's face, causing a cloud of the stuff to drift out and into the poor girl's nose. Her silver eyes crossed, her nose crinkled, and she looked like she was taking in a breath, as though she was about to yawn, or maybe- "Oh…" Alistair cringed and withdrew a few meters back.

"Achoo!"

*BOOM!*

He was just in time, too, as both girls went up in a ball of flames mere moments later, the Dust having reacted violently with Ruby's sneeze, sending the cases scattering everywhere and causing the surrounding students to give the area a wide birth.

Alistair's keen eyes picked up the glint of light reflecting off of the vial containing the red Dust responsible for the incident as it flew through the air, and he cringed in anticipation when it landed.

He had been expecting a disaster, but was surprised when the anticipated second explosion never came. Instead, the apparently sturdy casing rolled until it hit the high-heeled boot of yet another female, this one apparently almost the exact opposite of the albino girl, who had returned to shouting at Ruby by that point.

This one was rather tall, and had light skin and wavy hair as black as night, upon which was perched a black bow. Her eyes were a brilliant amber colour that gazed sharply at the leather-bound book in her grip with a passive glance, at least until the Dust vial rolled up to her boot.

She wore a black sleeveless jacket over a white blouse, both of which cut off just above her midriff, exposing her lithe, toned stomach to anyone who cared to look. Over her left arm she wore a black, detached sleeve with a metal armband holding it in place at the bicep, and a long black ribbon coiled around her wrist and forearm at the other end, matching the one wrapped around her right arm. She wore a pair of white shorts, which were overlapped by a set of black stockings that faded to a deep purple around her knees and were connected to her jacket by what looked like a garter belt.

She bent down and picked up the vial of dust in her hand without looking away from her book, only for her to mark her place at the end of a paragraph a moment later and give the thing a brief glance before looking up at the ones responsible for its presence.

Alistair was mildly surprised when the girl's eyes narrowed by a margin and she stowed the book away. She then turned and moved towards the pair with a strangely graceful stride and a sway to her hips.

Meanwhile, he turned back to the two other girls and saw that Ruby, while she had previously looked apologetic and sheepish, was now taking on a more aggressive stance, apparently having been offended by something the "ice queen" had said. He sighed and stepped off to the side so that he could avoid being called out on actively eavesdropping on the conversation while still listening in, hoping to avoid getting mixed up in it all.

Then his eyes began to glow faintly and his pupils narrowed to pinpricks as the voices of the girls came into focus.

"Look! I said I was sorry, princess!" came the irate voice of Ruby, obviously having had enough of being talked down to by the other female, who was looking away haughtily.

Their argument was cut short before it could grow any more heated by a smooth, quiet voice. "It's heiress, actually." said the ravenette girl as she approached them. "Weiss Schnee; Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." she explained helpfully.

From where he was, Alistair brought his palm to his face. _'So that's where I recognized her from. I must be growing dull if I missed something like __that__.'_ he berated himself.

Meanwhile, the newly identified Weiss put her hands on her hips and stuck her nose up proudly. "Finally, someone who-" she was interrupted as the black haired girl continued her explanation.

"The _same_ company infamous for its controversial labor practices and questionable business partners." she said, casting the company, and by proxy its heiress, in a far less glamorous light.

The brunette male smirked at the comment. _'Can't deny a fact.'_ he thought, finding some measure of enjoyment from the way the "heiress's" face turned a deep scarlet in outrage and embarrassment, his sentiment shared by a giggling Ruby.

That said, the white-haired girl seemed to be of a similar mind to Alistair's earlier thought, though she was clearly far less entertained, as she was unable to formulate a response to the accusations. "I- What- How dare… ugh!" she sputtered incoherently, throwing her arms up in the air before marching over to the black-haired girl and glaring right into her eyes.

The look she gave was so steely and chilling that any lesser man (or woman) would flinch away, but for her part, the taller female simply stared stoically back at her, an expertly hidden victorious smirk on her face that only the grey-eyed boy caught, even from his distance.

Perceptive or not, it would seem that Weiss knew she was not going to make this new challenger back down with that stern look of hers, so instead she opted to grab the vial from her hand and turn around on her heel, stomping away in a huff. A pair of suit-clad men -likely the girl's servants- were quick to gather up her spilled belongings on a trolley and scurried off after her silently.

Alistair, having been observing the whole affair, looked at the two servants with a quirked brow. _'When the hell did they get there?'_ he asked, utterly baffled by their lack of presence up until that point.

His thoughts were cut off as Ruby called out after Weiss. "I'm sorry! I'll make this up to you somehow, I promise!" she yelled, apparently deciding it was best to at least try to leave her on a positive note, though the snowy-haired girl didn't pay her words any heed. The redhead looked disappointed and muttered something to herself before turning towards her supposed "ally" in the previous confrontation. "So, What's-" she faltered upon realizing the other girl had turned around and walked away, leaving her alone in the walkway.

The younger teen sighed, looking downcast "Welcome to Beacon…" she said, her shoulders slumped.

Alistair, meanwhile, looked away the moment the graceful black haired girl turned in his direction, and he subtly observed her; something about her seemed off and he needed clarification.

He stared at her out the corner of his eye for a while as she passed, but then he noticed her posture stiffen as though a cold wind had gone up her back. _'What the-'_ suddenly, realization struck him and his eyes widened marginally.

The girl rounded on him, moving slowly and carefully so as not to start a scene, and her own eyes were wider than previous, filled with confusion and apprehension, before calming and returning to their neutral state, if a bit more wary of his presence. He simply replied with a quizzical look, before shrugging and giving her a friendly half-wave as his eyes turned away from her, apparently causing her posture to relax as well. The girl then passed him by without further incident, though gave him a cautious sidelong glance in her passing.

Alistair, for his part, simply stood up straight and moved towards the entrance of Beacon. _'Well, __that__ was insightful. But there's no point sticking around.'_ he thought to himself as he made to move out, only for his eyes to fall on Ruby again. She had collapsed to her knees and was looking very depressed about the whole affair, with her head down and a finger drawing circles in the dirt on the path. Alistair froze.

He couldn't help himself, his body simply stopped moving the moment he lay eyes on the girl in such a sorry state.

'_Oh dear…'_ he mused to himself _'This isn't good.'_ He frowned as he looked upon the sorry scene in front of him.

He fought with himself for a moment _'I know that she's not a bad person, but I cannot afford ending up in police custody. If she recognizes me, then there is no telling how she might react.'_ he tried to reason to himself. However his thoughts were completely contradicted by his body; it wasn't hearing any excuses and forced him to remain rooted in place, watching the girl sitting there in her depression.

Still, he remained strong. _'No! I will not abandon common sense just to help a girl I hardly know. Besides, the life of a huntress is full of disappointments and tragedies, and she needs to realize this, so by ignoring her we're technically doing her a favo- Oh, don't do that!'_ he tried to reason with himself, only to be cut off when he saw her expression, which made him cringe.

'_Don't do that thing where your eyes get all puffy! Agh! I can't look away either!'_ he lamented, and would have torn his own hair out if he could have moved.

Luckily for him, he was saved from his frozen state by Jaune, who came up beside him, panting lightly from the apparent exertion of throwing up; that, or he had been wandering for a while to find out where his new friend had gone. Whatever the reason for his exhaustion, the blond placed a hand on his friend's shoulder for support. "H-Hey Alistair, thanks for waiting up." he said, shocking the brunette and causing his body to jump in surprise.

He was quick to recover. "Oh! It was no problem, I assure you." he responded _'I honestly forgot all about him in all the commotion.'_ he admitted to himself.

Jaune then pulled his attention away from Alistair and over to Ruby, who'd fallen backwards and was now laying on her back in the middle of the empty walkway. "Who's that?" he asked worriedly, causing the other male to stiffen. After a moment though, the male knew he was beaten, so he simply sighed quietly to himself and shook his head, knowing better than to delay the inevitable. "Blasted rebellious body…" he muttered/

"_That_… is a girl who requires a friend. Or two, perhaps." he explained with a small, somewhat strained smile, before making his way over to said girl, Jaune following close behind and smiling the whole way. _'Damn my moral compass… I hope this doesn't come back to bite me later on.'_

Soon, they stood over Ruby's fallen form, the presence of their shadows falling over her causing her to look up and see the pair standing on either side, each one with a hand extended to help her up. She smiled at the gesture and reached up with both hands, each one taking one of the boys' before she was pulled to her feet by the pair.

"I'm Jaune" said the blond, and the girl smiled

"Ruby." she introduced in return, before turning to the other boy.

"Alistair." He offered a faint smile.

The girl looked gratefully between the two males, before her eyes landed on Jaune "Wait… weren't you the one who threw up on the ship?" she asked.

"Pfft!" Alistair snorted as he half-tried to withhold a laugh.

**Xxxxxx Minutes later; Beacon Academy school grounds xxxxxx **

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a more common problem than people let on." said Jaune in his defense.

Alistair gave him a sarcastic look. "Common or not…" he replied "…it's no less shameful when you throw up on the floor." The blond slumped forward in embarrassment as the other male gave a small smirk of victory, though it was obviously more playful than it was malicious.

Ruby seemed to be of a similar mindset, giggling at the older teens' interaction before she threw in her two cents. "Look; I'm sorry, but 'vomit boy' was the first thing that came to mind." she said, further entertaining the brunette and embarrassing the blond.

"Oh yeah, well what if I called you 'crater face'?" he asked.

The grey eyes boy pulled a notepad out of his vest. "And with that, the score is one-all." he commented, actually writing down a T chart with Ruby and Jaune's names on it, placing a single mark under both. The paladin looked triumphant while Ruby just stuck out her tongue childishly at the inventor.

"Well he wouldn't have known any of that if you hadn't told him!" she whined, and the male turned away casually, whistling.

Instead of pursuing that conversation, the girl turned back to Jaune. "Anyways, that explosion wasn't my fault! Unlike you, 'vomit boy.'" she defended herself with a huff. They could both see that she didn't mean anything malicious with her words or tone, and the brunette was left amused by the new nickname.

'_I'll have to perpetuate that one'_ Alistair noted with a chuckle.

Jaune huffed as well "The _name's_ Jaune Arc, I'll have you know. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue; the ladies love it." he said, only earning an elevated brow from the inventor.

"In what universe is that?" he asked

**Xxxxxx Meanwhile; In a parallel universe xxxxxx **

A somewhat older and significantly more masculine version of Jaune crouched in a bush as a group of girls passed by him, prattling on about one thing or another. Suddenly, as though by the will of some sadistic god, an invisible force tickled his nose.

'_Oh no…'_ he thought, before…

*ACHOO!*

And with that, the eye of every female in the vicinity turned towards that one bush. "Ahhh… crap." the attractive male said. He stood up and darted from the bush, fleeing desperately from the now seemingly ravenous girls, who screamed out all sorts of indecent things as they chased him.

"SQUEEEEE!"

"Somebody help me!" he shouted, breaking out in a full sprint as the pursuing crowd started to catch up to him.

Suddenly, he paused and looked up with wide eyes as a shadow descended upon him…

"Jaune!"

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a huge robot with catlike ears on its head swooped in and snatched the blond off the ground, whisking him away from the swarm of females.

**Xxxxxx In our universe xxxxxx (1)**

The grey-eyed boy paused for a moment in thought. _'I just had the oddest sense of utter confusion.'_ he thought, but shook his head to eliminate it as he quickly caught up with the two others.

The blond was now looking more nervous as he held his hands out. "They will!" he said hurriedly, only to stop and look off to the side dejectedly. "At least, I _hope_ they will." he muttered, before picking up his head a little. "My mom says- err… never mind." he cut himself off, scratching his head as he turned away in embarrassment again.

Alistair simply rolled his eyes at the subject matter, clearly not too interested in the idea of having women fawn over him.

That said; he soon found himself chuckling as he realized exactly what the other male had said. "I'm not one to talk when it comes to winning over women, but I would suggest that you avoid using the words 'my mom' when talking to a lady." he advised mirthfully, amused endlessly by the blushing of the now-embarrassed boy.

Ruby, on the other hand, seemed to only find the subject sort of awkward, apparently oblivious to the humor Alistair found in Jaune's little faux-pas, so the jibe clearly went right over her head. Instead, she just walked alongside the marginally taller teens and laughed awkwardly as she tried searching for another topic to direct the conversation towards.

Naturally (at least for her), the first topic that came to mind happened to be the block of red metal at her side.

"Soo… I have this." she said seemingly out of the blue. She then drew the block from her waist and unfolded it, transforming it into the exceedingly massive scythe she'd used the other night, letting the tip of the blade rest between the cobblestones on the path.

Jaune jumped and backed away from the dangerous implement, his hands instinctively flying up in defense. "Gah!" he shouted, before calming down a moment later after the shock had worn off. "I-Is that a scythe!?" he asked in a panic.

Ruby nodded enthusiastically "It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle." she explained with a bit more energy than previous.

This only served to confuse the blue-eyed boy, however. "Huh?" he grunted unintelligently, causing Alistair to roll his eyes once more, though for a different reason this time.

"It's also a gun." he said, clearing up the other boy's confusion.

Realization lit up in the blonde's face. "Ohh… Cool!"

The girl giggled at their antics. "So, what do you have?" she asked them both, looking between them to see if she could spot any obvious implements of battle on their forms. For Jaune, it wasn't too difficult, given that he wasn't exactly making any effort to conceal the blade at his hip, but Alistair appeared completely unarmed, only serving to fuel the girl's curiosity further.

It was Jaune who answered her first. "Well, I have this sword." he said, pulling the weapon from his hip and wielding it lazily in his hand.

Ruby gave a little "Ooh…" as she beheld the weapon.

Jaune's chest inflated as he withdrew the sheath as well, only for it to unfold into a large white shield. "I also have this." he said proudly.

The girl, apparently being the inquisitive type, reached out and poked the board. "So what do they- DO?!"

She jumped back when she accidentally triggered the folding mechanism, causing the plate to suddenly retract and expand rapidly in the blonde's grip. This caused the male to fumble the shield and toss it around in an attempt to grab it as if it were a hot potato, drawing an intrigued look from Alistair, who examined the thing once the boy found his grip on it once more.

Trying to regain his composure, Jaune continued the explanation on his weapon as he folded it up again. "The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just… put it away." he said awkwardly as he stored it in its rightful place on his belt.

Ruby wasn't so convinced. "But, doesn't it still weigh the same?"

The blond scratched his head. "Yeah it does." he said, now looking deflated with his shoulders slumped as he realized the difference in their weapons' grandeur and complexities.

It was then that Alistair snatched the weapon from the blonde's belt without so much as a word.

"H-Hey!" cried Jaune.

The brunette only held up his finger in a shushing motion. "One moment." he said simply, retrieving the screwdriver he was using earlier from his sleeve.

The two were confused by this act, and Ruby turned to Jaune questioningly. "What's he doing?" she asked quietly, earning a shrug from the boy, only for him to balk when he saw the other male unfold his shield and start to poke around it with the tool.

"Wha-What _are_ you doing?" he asked, but received only a simple response.

"Fixing it." the grey eyed male said distantly, drawing a concerned look from the other boy.

Jaune and Ruby both walked around to either side of the male, who only hummed as he examined the shield. Instinctively, though, the girl drew her own weapon closer to her body, as though guarding it from the sticky fingers of their new friend.

They stayed like that for a moment, waiting in silence as Alistair tinkered with the thing's mechanisms, only for it to be broken when the brunette spoke up suddenly. "This shield is quite old, isn't it?" he asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

Jaune rubbed his head self-consciously. "Well, it's a hand-me-down." he explained "My great-great-grandfather used it in the war."

The other boy nodded. "Yes, I can see by the technology here that it was used around that era." the inventor replied "I'd suggest having the collapsible frame replaced with a newer design, given how unreliable and fragile it can be, but I'm sure that this has some sentimental significance so I'll leave it to your judgement."

Ruby then chose that moment to cut in. "Yeah, I can actually tell by the ware that it's seen a lot of fights." she gave her input, earning an inquisitive eye from Alistair, who turned it around and looked at the front, showing that it was as she said.

Numerous battle scars littered the surface of the protective plate, and one could see a few "scar" lines around the edges where pieces had been broken or chipped off and needed to be forged back on, though most of the marks on its surface were all polished and fixed to give it more of a smooth look.

The male gave an appraising eye to the girl. "How astute, I didn't even notice at first. I take it you're an expert in the craft?"

His praise caused the girl to blush in embarrassment and scratch her head. "Uhh, well not an _'expert'_ exactly. I'm just kind of a dork when it comes to weapons." she explained sheepishly, causing the brunette to smirk and chuckle.

"I wouldn't be so quick to disregard your abilities. It's an impressive skill to have." he complimented.

The girl tucked her hands behind her back and started to fidget, obviously unused to being complimented to avidly. "Th-Thanks" she said, before bringing up her own massive weapon, which then folded into a more compact and manageable form, taking the shape of an average, if ornate, sniper rifle.

She cradled it in her arms as if it were her child. "You don't think I might have gone a little overboard designing her?" the girl asked, earning a curious look from the young inventor.

"Her?" he asked, but went unheard over Jaune's enthusiastic reply.

"You built that!?" the blond asked, and the girl nodded.

"Well, yeah, all students at signal have to design and build their own weapons. But like I said, I might have gone a little overboard." she explained, scratching her head.

The armored warrior smiled. "Wow! That's so cool!" he said, causing the girl to giggle.

"Thanks. Uhh… yours is cool too." she said, but it only caused him to look away awkwardly.

"T-Thanks…?" he said unsurely, as though he felt like she was just humoring him.

She saw this and smiled genuinely. "I'm serious. Nobody seems to have an appreciation for the classics, but they're still pretty impressive when you look at them." she said, before turning to Alistair for support in her argument. "Right?"

Said young inventor had finished his tinkering and withdrew the blade from its sheath, unfolding the shield in order to test the recalibrated mechanism. "But of course." he said, wielding the blade with a firm grip, despite obviously not being an expert.

He smiled at the blade's balance as he gave it a test swing. "Simple, yet elegant. Very effective in the hands of an adept." he commented, before turning to the other two. "I may not be a student of the blade, but even I can see the merits to the older weapons." he said, tossing the sword into the air, which elicited a cry of surprise from the two.

"Wha-What are you-" Jaune started to say.

Alistair didn't respond, but instead twirled the shield in his grip, allowing it to fold up again. "I was raised much of my life by a man who fought beowolves with a walking stick, so take it from me when I say that there can be beauty in simplicity." he explained. The male then held out his hand to the left with the sheath's opening facing upwards "A weapon's effectiveness isn't dictated by how advanced the technology is…" the sword fell from the sky and landed, blade down, in the sheath "… so much as by the one holding it." he finished, handing the blade back to Jaune. ***(2)**

"Woah…" muttered Ruby as they both gawped at the male. "H-How did you…" she trailed off, causing the inventor to smirk.

"A secret." he replied simply, winking at them with his glowing grey eyes, before the shine faded. Ruby crossed her arms and pouted at her cryptic new friend, who was only amused by the reaction, as was Jaune, if his laugh was an indication. Eventually, they started off down the garden path again.

Ruby then fell into step with Alistair, her arms behind her back. "So what about you?" she asked, causing the male to look at her questioningly.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She pointed at the scythe, now folded up at her hip "What's your weapon?" she clarified, obviously excited to see what he had in store.

Just like they had on the ship, Alistair's eyes lit up with energy and a smile spread on his face "Ah! That is a bit of a story. See, my weapon is currently in a state of disrepair, so technically, it's a hunk of metal." he explained, surprising Ruby with his energetic attitude.

She looked at him curiously, eyeing him up and down while searching for his supposedly broken weapon. "You seem a bit too… happy to have your weapon broken. What happened?" she asked.

The male chuckled at her wording "I never said it was _broken_… just that it was in disrepair. I took it apart last night and can easily reassemble it within minutes if given the need." he said with a light hum.

This only seemed to confuse the girl even further, as did it Jaune, who was trailing a little behind as he listened to them. "Okay, I'll bite. Why did you take apart your weapon?" he asked, and the oddball teen giggled ecstatically, causing both others to back away a little.

He disregarded their reaction, however "I recently added a new feature to it, so I had to take it apart to adapt it to accept the modification." he explained to them.

The grey-eyed teen then turned to them before they could make any further comments. "You see; I created my weapon from the ground up, much the same as you, Ruby." he said, causing them to pause. "However, it is more of an original design, and I am constantly improving on it. I'm always adding components, changing systems to work more efficiently… blast proofing."

He seemed a bit put out at that last point, but then recovered his energy a moment later.

His smile only increased when, slowly but surely, Ruby's eyes lit up as she grasped what he said. However, both he and Jaune jumped in surprise when the girl unexpectedly disappeared in a burst of shimmering rose petals, only to reappear next to Alistair in much the same fashion. "Gah!" the grey-eyed boy shouted in surprise.

Upon reappearing, she then began to speak animatedly "Ohmigosh! That sounds so awesome! I don't even know what your weapon _is_ yet and I already wanna see it!" she cried faster than he could respond to, darting around his body in flashes of light and clouds of rose petals. Then, she started to rapid-fire questions at him at such speeds that he couldn't even hear, let alone keep up with.

"How does it work? Where did you get the idea? What does it look like? Does it transform? Does it do anything special?" and so-on she went, all the while causing Alistair to feel awkward at the sudden attention he was getting from the girl, looking rather embarrassed.

Eventually, though, he held up his hand to bring a halt to the veritable typhoon of questions "How about I show you my weapon during the test, rather than tell you now? It will be more… impressive that way." he suggested.

The girl squirmed in place for a moment, like a kid who'd had too much sugar, before calming down and nodding. "O-Okay." she conceded, disappointed, but clearly still very anxious.

With that order of business taken care of, they once more began walking in silence for a few moments, enjoying the gardens of the pristine schoolyard in early summer as they all began to calm down a little.

This ended, however, when Ruby hesitantly spoke up "So… why did you both help me out back there, in the courtyard?" she asked them, causing Alistair to flinch slightly, though it went unnoticed by either of the other teens.

Jaune was the one to answer for them. "Well, why not?" he countered "My dad always said that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." he said, causing the other male of the group to nod appreciatively.

"Wise words." he said, causing the blue eyed boy to laugh a little.

"Yeah, I try to keep them in mind whenever I go somewhere new." he said, causing the other male to smirk.

"Well, that would explain why you were so eager to chat on the ship here." Alistair said, humming in thought as he recalled the event. "For as awkward as it was."

Ruby laughed, clearly overjoyed to have found not just one, but two new friends who were so kind and funny… but she paused a moment later when something occurred to her.

"Uhh, guys?" she said, getting their attention "Where are we going?" she asked, and both males paused as well, before turning back to her.

"I was following you two." said Jaune, and they both turned to Alistair.

The inventor tilted his head "We were supposed to be going somewhere?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Ruby giggled at the comment.

"I don't suppose there's a directory around here? Maybe a food court… a landmark or something?" asked the blond, causing Ruby to laugh more. "Is that a no?"

**Xxxxxx Meanwhile; Beacon outdoor food court xxxxxx **

"Hehehe..."

Renee sat alone at a table, scribbling on her notepad with a grumble as she munched on a potato chip from a bag she'd procured from one of the vending machines leaning on the wall of the school. **(3)**

She giggled quietly to herself as she saw the last line come together under her pen, though this laughter wasn't one of happiness or playfulness; no, the expression was filled with malicious glee that drove away all sensible people, who felt a shiver crawl up their spine just being in her presence.

The reason for her laughter could be seen in the heading of the note, which read _'Top twenty evil pranks'_ in big, bold lettering, which was soon hidden as she closed the notepad and slipped it into her bra, where nobody would get to it without her permission.

She stood up and turned around, only to stop and take a step backwards as she came face-to-face with someone she'd never seen before.

He was a tall teen with black hair, the back of which was tied into a long ponytail akin to a martial artist from some old kung-fu movie, though his hair differed from those actors in that his bangs had a bright magenta streak coming down the side, which incidentally matched his eyes. She was tempted to say that it was similar to Alistair's blond streak, but this male's was much thinner and went down the side, as opposed to near the middle. His facial features were angular and would be considered quite attractive by most women- and some men-, however his musculature was hidden by the loose clothing he wore.

He was clad in a green jacket with two tails, the inside of which was red and the outside of it bore black accents with gold trimmings, with the exceptions of the cuffs, which were a shade of magenta that matched his eyes as well. His pants were light tan and obviously made for maximum mobility, as were the black shoes encasing his feet. He held himself with a strong, professional air, however Renee could see that it thinly veiled a sense of exhaustion and general lethargy that one would find in an insomniac.

Renee blinked her eyes rapidly in surprise. "Oh, sorry." she said quickly.

The black haired male shook his head. "No, it was my fault. I was… distracted." he said, glancing around the food court area.

The fox-girl smirked playfully. "What? you lose your dog out here?" she asked, and the male rolled his eyes with a smile and small chuckle

"Something like that..." he quipped.

This response confused the girl. "Wait. You actually brought your pet with you? I didn't know they let animals on the property." she inquired, only causing the male to laugh; a soft, calm sound that didn't have much energy behind it, but still conveyed his amusement.

The man shook his head. "No, I didn't actually lose my dog. I lost my friend." he said, looking around for said friend. "She tends to run off on her own, and sometimes it feels like I'm trying to keep tabs on a particularly energetic-" he started, before he paused and his eye twitched in annoyance as he caught sight of something behind her. "Nora!" he called, running off towards the object of his attention, drawing Renee's eyes to the scene.

Spotting the target of the male's attention was an easy task, due to the fact that she, this new guy, and the apparently named "Nora" were the only three there, aside from one wormy looking guy reading a book off to the side of the area.

When she turned, however, the fox-girl was left absolutely confounded.

The one known as Nora was obviously female and stood at about Renee's size, perhaps a little shorter. Her hair was bright orange, neck length, and kempt in a sort of frill that curved out away from her neck and vibrant, turquoise eyes. Her face was more rounded than her apparent friend's and filled with childlike exuberance that really leant to the analogy of an energetic puppy. Her build was a little bulky and muscular, by female standards, and looked quite strong indicating a heavy-hitter type of fighter, though between her energy and the cutesy way she liked to dress, it was obvious she was not some brutal savage.

She clad herself in some sort of black vest that seemed to be held to her body by a metallic harness and didn't have any material around her chest. This left her sleeveless white top exposed around that area, which showed to the world the heart shaped hole on her shirt that would have revealed some cleavage if it were any lower. Around her waist was a bright pink skirt that ended mid-thigh, which left her legs bare down to the white shoes on her feet, the soles and laces of which were a matching pink. Similarly, her hands were encased in fingerless pink gloves and her right arm was home to a detached white sleeve, completing the ensemble.

What Renee found odd about the girl wasn't anything to do with her looks, though…

Rather, what had her confused was the fact that her face was currently pressed against one of the vending machines, her cheeks bulging as she apparently made faces into the glass, and her butt sticking out, wiggling childishly.

The faunus was so completely caught off-guard that she had to pause briefly in order to process the image.

As soon as she did, though, the girl put a hand to her mouth in order to stem the tide of laughter at the ridiculousness of it all. Naturally, she had to get a closer look at what was going on, so she came up behind the male to see if she could figure out exactly what this strange girl was doing, trying to stay back a few feet so as not to be heard.

That lasted even after the magenta-eyed male walked up to the girl and sighed. "Nora…" he said in exasperation. "What are you doing?"

The girl perked up and spun around to look at him, a wide grin on her face. "Ren!" she exclaimed with all the exuberance and excitement of a child "They have sweet buns!" The brightness of the girl's grin could be measured in megawatts, at least until it faded into a look of confusion upon turning to see Renee standing behind her friend. "Huh? Who's that?"

Ren looked back to see the fox-girl snickering behind him, and a single brow elevated in confusion. "That's a… good question." he said "Who are you?"

The brunette girl came down from her giggle fit upon realizing the pair were looking at her, one confused and the other simply curious. She looked a bit sheepish at having been caught eavesdropping. "Renee LeChance." she introduced herself "Sorry about listening in, but after seeing that, I couldn't help myself." The girl indicated the smudges on the vending machine.

The male nodded politely to her. "Lie Ren." he returned. Ren then shot a look towards the girl at his side "I understand that she can be a bit…" he then turned back to Renee "eye-catching." he finished dully.

The orange-haired girl grinned once again, either not getting the subtle jab or simply not caring, then held out her hand enthusiastically. "I'm Nora!" she said with a grin as Renee took her hand and gave it a shake, trying not to laugh at the girl's childlike enthusiasm.

As soon as their hands separated, Nora's attention was caught by something behind Renee, and she suddenly darted around the fox-like girl. "Ohh…" she hummed "It looks so soft."

Renee turned to see the orange-haired girl reaching out with a hand with the intent to grasp the tail that swayed behind her. "Nora." She paused upon Ren's voice catching her attention.

"Sorry Ren!" she said, but certainly didn't seem sorry. Either way, she was back at his side in an instant, and the male simply sighed.

"Sorry about that." the black-haired male apologized. "She's… inquisitive. But she means well." he explained. He then glanced briefly at his friend "…Usually."

Renee laughed a little "Don't worry. I have a 'unique' friend as well." She paused.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. It was a crazy idea, one that might not even work, but the thought brought a sinister smirk slowly creeping upon her face.

"Actually… you might get along with him."

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**And that's a wrap!**

**(1) That, my dear readers, is a reference to "Weiss Reacts," an entertaining fanfic written by one "ElfCollaborator"**

**If you lot are lore junkies, then you might not like this fic, because it essentially disregards almost every aspect of the lore in exchange for the fun. But if you have a good sense of humor and want to read an interesting, if a bit nonsensical, story based around comedy, insanity, antics, and the stretching of the laws of the universe to their absolute extremes, then this story is for you.**

**(2) Okay… even I'll admit that scene was a bit over-the-top there. But I feel it suits the type of character I was going for with Alistair. Don't worry, though, it's not all skill, so don't go calling Mary Sue just yet. You'll get an explanation for his uncanny skills next chapter.**

**(3) Insert Death Note joke here.**

**A.N.: Wow, this chapter was bad. I mean, it's not bad in terms of plot, but some of the writing and conversations are just… unfortunate. So on the bright side, I've decided to just forgo the idea of releasing all these chapters at once and I'll just release them as I go. **

**As you can tell, though, this might take a while. It's mainly because A) there's only really been one oc idea submission, and B) I've got other things to do and other fics to write. I'm trying to balance things out, but it's difficult, especially with my attention span being worse than a retarded goldfish.**

**Anyways, the only real notable change was the conversation between Jaune and Alistair on the ship, as well as Alistair's reasons for not wanting to help Ruby. Everything else was just smoothing out the rough edges in terms of grammar and the flow of conversation.**

**Well, that's about all, so I'll let you get on with your lives.**

**Thanks for stopping by again, and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Buh-bye!**

**Oh, and…uhh. Stinger.**

**XXXXXXXX **

Jaune, Ruby, and Alistair were wandering through the school grounds, looking for what might qualify as a landmark or map of the campus, when the inventor suddenly paused mid-stride and shuddered, earning the attention of his two companions.

"You okay?" asked Ruby with a concerned expression.

The brunette nodded, his face a bit paler than usual. "Yeah. Just…" he trailed off, looking to the sky above.

"Just a bad feeling."


	4. Meet and Greet

From Ashes

Chapter 3: Meet-and-Greet

**Okay; so I get that this previous hiatus isn't exceptionally long compared to what you're used to, but even then I feel like I should still apologize.**

**Recently, I've been going through a bit of stuff that's just left me feeling lethargic and uninspired, and when compared to a lack of motivation, I just haven't been able to get the creative… ness?...**

**Basically, I couldn't get my brain to work for me.**

**Anyways, I recently managed to get my muse to come back from her extended holiday, and much of it is in part due to- of all things- Dungeons and Dragons. I've been watching a series on youtube by the name "Critical Role" which has become a source of inspiration for me now that I'm back in the proverbial saddle.**

**Because of this, you might see a good deal of inspiration from D&amp;D in some of my fanfic, more specifically being the general feel of how this story progresses, and some of the spells and abilities soon to come in my Skyrim/To Love-Ru X-over.**

**Anyways, felt like starting off with something simple for my comeback; editing my previous work here and seeing if I can hold my concentration on the project. It should also be noted that I'm currently doing a little work on my other fictions while I'm at it.**

**But, that's enough out of me for now. I'll let you get on with the fic.**

"Speech"

'_Thought/Reading'_

"Synthesized/Robotic Speech"

*Onomatopoeia* (sound effect)

**(Author's Note)**

**Xxxxxx Scene Change xxxxxx**

**xxxxxx **Scene Break

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any materials referenced here. Everything is property of Roosterteeth.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

Alistair, Jaune, and Ruby found themselves walking through a large archway at front of Beacon academy, though they were less preoccupied with the admittedly impressive architecture than they were with the brass stopwatch in the brunette's hand.

The inventor frowned in annoyance as he shut the lid and slipped it into his pocket. "We're not late for the assembly, but we _are_ cutting it close." he said aloud, turning to glance at Jaune.

The blond, for his part, looked sheepish. "It's not _my_ fault we were walking around in circles. I mean I didn't tell you to follow me." he defended himself.

This only earned a derisive snort from Alistair "Well, if we had left you, then you would have remained lost for a good few hours. I felt obligated to assist."

The brunette then made his way forward a bit faster than the other two teens, looking around to see if he could find any other students or faculty members.

As he did this, Jaune leaned over to Ruby. "Should I be insulted that he thinks I'm that hopeless, or flattered that he's still willing to help me out?" he asked with confusion and mild irritation marring his boyish features.

The cloaked girl just shrugged her shoulders before taking off after Alistair, leaving the confused knight to bring up the rear.

**Xxxxxx **

After a short search, Jaune managed to find a professor patrolling the halls and get directions to their destination, which resulted in a quick trip through the main building until they arrived at the auditorium. It was a massive room obviously designed to house the vast majority of the school's population without issue, though it was only about a quarter of the way full of students and teachers, apparently only playing host to the freshman students.

As soon as they entered, the trio heard Ruby's name being called by a familiar voice, just barely audible over the din of the crowd. They all turned to see the busty blond girl from the airship waving towards her shorter friend, gesturing to an empty space beside her.

"Ruby!" she called again "I saved you a spot!"

The redhead girl waved back. "Hey!" she called, before turning back to her two newest friends. "Sorry, I have to go." she apologized "I'll see you both later."

Then, before any argument could be made, she was off.

Jaune was momentarily caught off guard by the girl's sudden departure. "Hey wait!" he called after her, but his protest was lost to her beneath the chattering of the people around them. Upon realizing this, his shoulders slumped "Ugh, that's just great." he said sarcastically "Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?" he asked.

An amused Alistair shook his head and clapped a hand to his friend's armored shoulder. "Worry not, my scraggly friend." he reassured "You still have me."

The blue-eyed boy shot him a dull look. "I'm not scraggly." he retorted, brushing the brunette's hand from his arm. After which, he soon took to scanning the crowd, perhaps looking for a familiar face, or maybe searching for another "nice, quirky girl" as he'd previously indicated, causing the other male to sigh quietly.

They were interrupted when Alistair faintly heard a vaguely recognizable, feminine voice shout "You!" followed by another female squeaking in surprise.

He turned to see the white haired girl from the earlier encounter glaring at Ruby, who was now firmly held in her older friend's arms as she cried "Oh no! It's happening again!"

This odd display didn't dissuade Weiss in the slightest. "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" she exclaimed.

The declaration caused Alistair to arch an eyebrow. _'She still hasn't gotten over it?'_ he questioned _'That girl knows how to hold a grudge.'_ he frowned, mildly perturbed. "What a crabby girl…" he muttered.

This grabbed Jaune's attention. "You say something?" he asked.

"Nothing interesting." replied the grey-eyed inventor offhandedly, which the blonde warrior seemed to accept pretty easily, apparently still too preoccupied searching the crowd for something else to really pursue the topic any further.

Alistair noticed this, but didn't care much, seeing as it wasn't his problem.

Instead, he decided to refocus his attention and get closer to discern what the girls were saying, his eyes flaring up with a subtle glow once again.

Just as he focused in, the pale girl withdrew a pamphlet from her jacket and held it in front of Ruby's face. "The Schnee Dust Company is not held responsible for any injury sustained while using our product…" she began. The brunette tuned out the rest of her little rant, knowing that it was more-or-less just legal jargon.

"You really want to start making things up to me?" the girl asked blandly as she came to the end of her rant.

"Absolutely." replied Ruby, hope building up in her eyes.

"Read this and never speak to me again." And thus, the younger girl's hopes were instantly squashed.

The tallest of the trio, however, seemed to be either more optimistic, or more persistent than the silver-eyed girl. "It seems to me that you two got off on the wrong foot. Maybe you should try to start again?" she suggested.

The redhead nodded "Yeah, great idea sis'!" she said, surprising Alistair.

'_Wait… those two are sisters?'_ he asked himself with confused look on his face as he glanced between the two a few times. _'…I don't see it.'_

As he was contemplating this, Ruby had re-introduced herself to the white-haired girl in typical fashion. "Hi, I'm Ruby Rose. Nice to meet you." she said, extending her hand "Wanna hang out? We can go shopping… for school supplies?"

Weiss put on a small smile. "Oh, sure! Then after that we can try on clothes, and paint our nails, and talk about cute boys! Like tall, blond and… scraggly over there." she said excitedly, gesturing over her shoulder at none other than Jaune Arc.

Upon being referred to, the blond boy looked up with an unintelligent "Huh?" only to be met with a smirking Alistair, who was cleverly concealed from the girls by a nearby crowd of people. The knight looked briefly incensed by the "told you so" look he was getting… however he was rendered unfazed moments later when his eyes fell on Weiss, and suddenly his heart skipped a beat. Or so Alistair believed from the love-struck expression he saw in the other teen's eyes.

This caused the male to roll his own grey orbs. _'I wonder when he'll figure out she wasn't being serious.'_ he thought, before turning back to the group of girls, only for his palm to fly up and meet his face when Ruby's own expression lit up with glee.

"Really?" asked the youthful girl hopefully.

Weiss stood there for a moment with a dry look on her face, trying to figure out if ths other girl was being serious. "No." she replied blandly

And once more, Ruby's hopes were dashed by a short response.

Before things could go any further, however, everyone's attention was grabbed by the deep, masculine voice of an adult male.

*Ah-h-h-h-hem*

He cleared his throat, drawing all eyes to him, and from his place, Alistair could make out in vivid detail every aspect of the man.

He was easily 5'11" to 6' tall, and stood with an upright posture and strong stance that spoke of a powerful individual, silently demanding attention be placed on him. His hair was grey and tousled, and hung down to his neck and chin in messy locks that somehow seemed as neat as his upright posture, and only added to the bizarre aura he gave off. The moment people turned to him, they were met with sharp eyes that took in the world around him with hawk-like vigilance, yet at the same time managed to convey warmth and compassion that would make others feel welcome in his presence.

Sitting in front of those eyes was a set of round sunglasses that were so small and so far down his nose that they obviously didn't serve much purpose aside from aesthetics. Around his neck was a large, dark-green scarf with a silver cross-shaped pin on the front. He wore a mostly black ensemble, with an unzipped black jacket over a black vest, buttoned up with brass buttons that matched the gold of his belt buckle. His pants were also black, not really offering much variety in his wardrobe, but his shoes just barely managed to break the pattern with a shade of dark brown. As though the image weren't enough to give off a casual feeling, he lazily held a steaming mug of coffee in his right hand, the left occupied by a black cane with a silver head.

All-in-all, the man somehow gave off an air of intimidation, professionalism, casualness, and kindness. Put simply, he was a living contradiction.

Upon realizing he had the room's attention, he began to speak.

"I'll…" he paused, pushing up his glasses "Keep this brief."

"You've travelled here today in search of knowledge; to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the kingdom and its people." he said.

Alistair couldn't help but nod from his place in the crowd. _'Among other things.'_

"But I look upon you… and all I see is wasted energy." the tall male spoke, throwing off even the typically calm, level-headed (at least in his own mind) inventor. "You are in need of purpose, direction."

"You assume that knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that it can only carry you so far… It is up to you to take the first step."

The teens watched the man leave the stage, the cane in his hand making a *clack, clack, clack* on the tiles beneath his feet. This sound was soon replaced by a similar clicking of high-heeled shoes as the stern expression of Glynda Goodwitch replaced the taller professor at the microphone and began to address the students.

Shaking from his confusion, Alistair started to move while the woman spoke to the new hunters-to-be, only barely listening to her words as he approached the trio of girls who'd been arguing previously, doing his best to keep out of their line of sight as he did so.

It took only a few moments for Glynda to finish her speech, informing them of their sleeping arrangements for the night and the upcoming student evaluation, but Alistair was more-or-less acquainted with the whole procedure, so he opted not to listen. Instead, he simply waited for the speech to end before swiftly plucking the Dust pamphlet from Ruby's hand and reading it over; particularly, the safety tips.

The redhead, while seemingly air-headed at times, was clearly far from ignorant of her surroundings, so she was quick to note the sudden removal of the pamphlet from her hand, prompting her to turn around and look at the source of the disturbance. She looked on in surprise upon seeing that Alistair was avidly reading the paper. "Huh?" she grunted, earning the attention of the two girls at her sides.

"What is it Rub… huh? Who's that?" asked the taller sister, though Weiss remained silent, eyeing the male curiously upon noticing what he held in his grasp.

Rather than answer the blond, Alistair quirked a brow and turned from the flyer up to Weiss. "Ms. Weiss Schnee?" he asked her, and the girl nodded.

"The very same." she said, puffing out her moderate chest in pride.

The male nodded. "I actually have a question about your company's product, and I was wondering if you might answer it for me."

Weiss turned back to him with her head held proudly. "Well, I _suppose_ I could spare a moment." she said haughtily upon apparently being recognized for her intelligence and status.

Both Ruby and her sister looked to eachother, eyebrows raised at the unusual male,

Alistair nodded with a smile. "Thank you." he said, before gesturing to one particular line of the pamphlet. "You see, it says here that one shouldn't shake, jostle, or damage a case containing purified Dust, and that doing so carries the risk of a Dust reaction… say, an explosion." he said innocently enough. However, he was apparently thinking of something far less so, as his eyes were set in a sharp angle and his mouth curved into what could be an evil smirk, though just barely hidden. The three girls apparently missed this, and were left confused by his choice of words.

That confusion lasted only a moment before Weiss apparently came upon an unpleasant conclusion, and ice filled her veins as she realized where he might have been going with the topic.

Still, the girl kept her cool. "Y-Yes. That's true." she managed to say calmly with only a minor stutter to show her unease.

Alistair nodded at that. "I thought as much" he said, his smirk turning dangerous for a moment, before reverting to his casual self. "However, I caught sight of you doing exactly that in the courtyard this morning," he continued "and I figured you, being the Schnee heiress, would clearly know better than I about the care and handling of Dust, correct?" he inquired.

Weiss went stiff as a board and white as a sheet (somehow becoming even more pale) as she heard his ruminations, knowing she'd been called out in front of the very person responsible for the embarrassing accident to begin with.

Of course, her thought process was easy enough to discern at this point: She _had_ to save her reputation, but she didn't exactly know how she was going to do that, which left her in a bit of a proverbial pickle. It was either admitting that she made a mistake- that she had lost her temper and overreacted-, or telling the group that she was wrong and had underestimated the reactivity of the Dust, the latter of which probably wasn't true, seeing as she was likely well-versed in the substance. Either way; she came off as an incompetent.

On top of that, the very fact that it was even brought up to _begin_ _with_ shifted all blame for the encounter to her.

Ruby giggled as she seemed to realize this very point… that, or she just laughed at Weiss being called out on her mistake and didn't get the finer points. Not that it mattered much. She was having a ball.

The busty blond girl turned to Weiss with her eyes wide in surprise, before a smirk slowly crept up onto her face. "Oohhh~" she whooped mockingly.

Needless to say, Weiss was left speechless. Her face had been pale before the taller girl jeered at her, at which point she blushed a deep scarlet out of rage and embarrassment, and ground her teeth.

Alistair's brow rose "You seem ill. Is everything alright?" he asked in concern, indicating her reddening visage.

"I-… you-… uh-…" she sputtered.

Alistair stepped forward and placed a hand to the girl's forehead. "You're _burning_ _up_…" he said pointedly. "Perhaps you need to go lay down."

And like that, Weiss had enough.

Swatting his hand away, the girl turned on her heel, and without another word she huffed and stomped off, leaving the other teens to look after her.

Jaune, having just found the group in the dispersing crowd of students, managed to catch a glimpse of Weiss on her way out and frowned upon realizing he'd missed her. Though rather than pursue her, the male joined the group of teens just as Ruby addressed Alistair.

"Thanks for that." she said, scratching her head with a smile.

The grey-eyed boy shrugged. "Well it's not as though I was lying." he retorted "Dust is very unstable in its purified form and should never be unnecessarily jostled outside of a cushioned container to prevent a reaction." he said sarcastically, mimicking a professor. This earned him a few laughs, though Jaune only seemed confused, having come in late.

The blond girl smirked and looked between the boys and Ruby. "So you got yourself a couple friends?" she asked, and the redhead nodded shyly, averting her eyes in embarrassment. The busty teen then suddenly wrapped her sister up in her arms "I knew you could do it!" she cried happily.

Ruby, however, seemed less enthused. "Please stop, Yang! You're making a scene!" she said nervously.

The amethyst-eyed girl dropped her shorter counterpart and placed her hands on her shoulders with a wide smile "Well you can't blame me! I'm just so happy for you!" she explained.

Ruby just scratched her head, abashed. "It's not _that_ big of a deal." she tried to argue, but the comment went ignored.

The taller girl grinned and turned to the pair of males. "So… aren't you going to introduce us?"

The cloaked girl cleared her throat *Ahem* "R-Right."

She then gestured to Jaune with her arm. "Yang, this is Jaune Arc."

The blond boy extended his hand. "Hey there." he greeted, making his best attempt to be suave and flirtatious, but the general air of nervousness sort of ruined the image.

Yang giggled at the clumsy boy "Nice to meet you. Yang Xiao-long." she said as she took his hand.

Ruby then gestured towards to the other male. "And this is Alistair Greyfield." She then turned to Alistair. "This is Yang. My sister."

Alistair held out his own hand in much the same as his blue-eyed counterpart, but gave off a generally more graceful impression. "A pleasure to meet you, surely." he said playfully with a smile.

"Xiao-Long, eh? A fitting name." he said with a chuckle.

He paused, however, when Ruby looked at him strangely. Her eyes narrowed as she apparently tried to recall something about him.

She was stopped from delving to far back when a smirk made its way onto Yang's face. The blond beheld the more proper and upright posture of the male before her, looking him up and down slowly in a way that left him shifting uncomfortably. "Well, aren't you the prudish one?" she said with a giggle "It looks like you snagged yourself a gentleman here, Ruby." she said, turning to her sister with a wink.

Ruby looked at her in confusion. "Well, I guess he does have that… fancy way of talking." she said, looking between her friend and her sister with a quirked eyebrow clearly confused by the fact that her sister felt the need to draw attention to it. This only elicited a giggle from the blond girl.

Meanwhile, Alistair cringed slightly. _'That was close! I almost gave it away with that one.'_ he said, recalling that he'd said the same thing about Ruby's name on the night of the robbery. He was quick to wipe the expression from his face.

The male cleared his throat. "Err… P-Perhaps we should clear out before the crowd thins and we get called out for loitering." he suggested, his voice quivering awkwardly at first, but leveling out as he finished off.

Jaune was first to agree "Yeah, let's go out into the courtyard, or grab a bite to eat." he said, stretching his arms "I'm starving."

Yang giggled a little as she watched the brunette inventor stutter, theoretically at her comment. "Right, we can get to know eachother better over lunch." she said as they all turned and made their way to the exit.

They didn't notice the shadowy figure watching them from within the crowd, surrounded by a dark, malicious aura…

**Xxxxxx Later that night; Beacon Academy ball room xxxxxx **

Alistair entered the large, extravagant hall clad in what could only be described as an old traveler's robe.

It was light brown and worn from what looked like extensive use; the ends were frayed and some colors were faded. It was held shut with a sash and pulled taut over his chest, before falling down the backs of his legs, flowing behind him like a long coat. Around his legs was a set of old, ragged pants that matched the robe in aesthetic, held to him with a simple cloth sash, thinner than the first and sewed into the seams of the garment. All-in-all, he looked like a monk of some sort, which earned him the occasional stare, but those who looked at him would usually just disregard him moments later.

The young inventor looked over to his left, where a number of other boys had decided to set up their cots for the time being, and he had to fight to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. A few of them were roughhousing with eachother, which was nothing worth mention, except for the fact that they were shirtless, leaving their bare torsos and flexing muscles on display for the "appreciation" of the females across the room. Hell, a couple of them weren't even trying to be subtle about their showing off and were openly flexing.

Alistair almost found the whole thing funny (Almost being the active word), but even that ridiculous display was completely overshadowed by what he saw directly in front of him upon entering the room. Walking towards him was Jaune Arc, clad in a fuzzy blue onesie, complete with bunny slippers that he could _swear_ were squeaking with every step the boy took.

The blond noticed Alistair walking towards him and smiled as he waved, which the young inventor reciprocated unsurely, not quite confident about how else to react to the bizarre image.

The exchange ended when both boys were distracted by the sound of an almost feline purr off to the side. Naturally, they turned towards it and there they saw Yang shamelessly looking over the topless males across the room from her, an obviously lecherous grin on her face. This faded, however, when her eyes landed on Jaune, at which point he turned to her with a flirtatious smirk of his own, only for the girl to give an awkward half-smile in return, much to Alistair's amusement. It would appear he wasn't the only one who found the choice of nightwear strange.

Suddenly, the inventor also found himself under the scrutiny of those amethyst orbs, and a frown of what looked like disappointment marred the girl's face with a dose of confusion mixed in. Alistair, not quite sure what the look was about, just smiled in a friendly manner at the girl as he moved over to the opposite end of the room, where he sat against the wall and leaned back.

He took up a meditative position against the wall with his head bowed and his eyes closed, and took a deep breath as he retreated into his thoughts.

'_Mother, Father… I've almost made it.'_ A small smile played across his features at the memory of his parents. _'I'll do your teachings justice, master.'_ an image of a white-haired old man appeared in his mind's eye.

He was torn from his brief contemplation by another presence taking its place by his side.

"Hello Renee." he said without opening his eyes.

This earned him a huff of indignation from the girl. "How do you always manage to know when I'm nearby?" she asked as she slid down the wall and sat beside him.

Alistair tilted his head back and chuckled without opening his eyes. "Your lilac perfume and the soap you use creates a very… identifiable scent." he explained as he tapped his nose, earning a pout from the fox-girl.

"Well, I can't be the _only_ one in Vale who uses that combination." she argued.

Alistair turned to her and opened his eyes with a chuckle. "No, but out of all the students here, you're the only one who'd be here talking to me."

The girl was clad in a simple white t-shirt and a pair of bike shorts, leaving little to the imagination while still remaining somewhat decent and presentable. Needless to say, she was getting some attention.

The glances and stares were all disregarded by the girl as she addressed her friend. "Well, maybe more people would talk to you if you weren't a socially awkward shut-in." she said with a smirk and a little laugh.

Alistair's eyes rolled, not at all fazed by her outfit. "I'll have you know I'm not introverted. I've made plenty of friends." he informed her.

Renee was obviously surprised and almost stupefied by that bit of information. "Really!? Who are they!? When can I meet them!?" she asked hurriedly, leaning forward so that she was right in his face and grabbing him by the shoulders.

It should be noted that if one were to listen closely, they would actually be able to hear some sort of accent fade into her voice, but was quickly banished

Alistair was caught off guard by the sudden, unusual reaction of his friend and had to lean back to avoid the girl getting too close. "Wh-Why are you so surprised?" he asked worriedly.

The fox-girl shot him a deadpan look. "Like I said; you're not exactly a social butterfly." she reminded him. "Remember last time I asked you to go clubbing?"

Alistair looked away, embarrassed. "That was _not_ my fault! She snuck up on me…" he muttered, his face turning a light pink from the shame of the event they were referring to.

"So… when _can_ I meet these 'friends' of yours?" Renee asked, changing the subject once her point was made.

Alistair was about to reply when they, along with the majority of the room, heard a loud commotion off to their left. When they turned to look at it, they saw a pair of girls that the boy recognized as the Rose/Xiao-Long sisters wrestling over one thing or another. The grey-eyed boy also took note of the ravenette from earlier that morning sitting nearby, a brow raised in curiosity.

He disregarded that little point for later, and instead just gave a light sigh. "Speak of the devil… err, devils… and they shall appear." he said with a short laugh at the girls' antics. The male then pushed himself off the ground and brushed off the back of his robe before turning to Renee. "You coming?" he asked, holding out his hand to help her up.

"Might as well." the girl said with a smile and took his offer.

He lifted her to her feet and they turned to make their way over to the group, only for Alistair to pause suddenly and hold Renee back as he noticed yet another female making her way over to the group. He almost didn't recognize Weiss without that odd side-ponytail she usually wore, but he was quick to realize who it was and slowed down his pace enough to let her meet the group first. As a result, the short-haired girl looked at him questioningly, which he noticed when he looked back at her.

"I want to see where this goes." he explained simply, gesturing to the short female.

Renee rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Right, I almost forgot you were an oddball."

So they waited off to the side and watched as the Schnee heiress stomped up to the other three girls and glared specifically at the two sisters. "Could you keep it down over here? Others are trying to get some sleep!" she berated them, only to pause upon realizing exactly who she was yelling at.

"Oh not you again!" came twin cries from Weiss and Yang as they pointed at eachother, almost accusingly.

"Shush guys! She's right, other people are trying to sleep!" said Ruby hurriedly

Halfway across the room, Renee turned to Alistair. "Care to explain?"

The brunette scratched his head. "The two short ones exploded in the courtyard this morning after we got off the airship." he filled her in offhandedly.

Renee's hand flew up and met her forehead with a loud smack. "Not even five minutes here and you're already blowing things up?" she asked with a groan.

Alistair's hands came up in a defensive position. "H-Hey! It wasn't my fault… this time."

The faunus girl just gave her friend a skeptical look in response.

The male sighed. "How about we just go introduce ourselves?" he suggested, seeing that he was definitely not going to convince his friend.

The girl shook her head and gave an amused smile. "Sure. Lead on."

So they began moving forward, though Alistair was taking quiet, measured steps so as not to make any noise as they approached from behind Weiss while she and Yang continued to argue rather loudly. Renee's own steps were soundless as well, though it seemed like she wasn't even putting forth any effort to maintain her silence.

As they snuck up behind the pale girl, Yang and Ruby fell silent, and the black-haired girl, who was already keeping quiet to begin with, looked at the male with subtle surprise written on her face. She calmed a moment later, but still remained uneasy with him present, even if it was difficult to tell.

Weiss, having her back turned to the pair and being in the middle of a rant, didn't notice their approach even as the male stood right behind her.

"And another thing; don't think I'm just going to stand by and be insulted by you, or anyone else!" she nearly shouted indignantly. It was obvious that the people around them were perturbed by the noise, but the majority of the students were smart enough -and sane enough- to avoid antagonizing the petite girl, likely for fear of losing a finger.

Sadly, it's quite obvious at this point that Alistair, for all his intelligence, was not very smart. A contradiction, true, but it aptly described his mental status.

This was made apparent when, to everyone's surprise, he leaned in over the girl's shoulder as she came down from the enraged rant, his breath inaudible to her over her own heavy panting, nor did her rage-fogged mind pick up his presence. Therefore, it came as a complete surprise when he spoke right in her ear.

"Kindly keep it down." he said in a soft, even tone.

"Kya!"

The girl shouted and leapt a good few feet into the air in her surprise, before whipping around with wide eyes, narrow pupils, and paler-than-normal skin as she panted even harder to try and force the air back into her lungs after the shock.

Alistair had leaned back when the girl jumped, having predicted her meter-high leap and withdrew quickly enough to avoid taking an uppercut from her shoulder. Now, though, he was staring at her with a stunned look and blinking owlishly at her. "That was… surprisingly cute." he mused aloud.

The girl's face turned bright red, though the rest of the group knew not whether it was from embarrassment or rage. "I… Wha…. Ha…" she sputtered incomprehensibly as she stared at the teen before her. She then turned around to see the blond sister snickering at her misfortune and the redhead looking nervous while simultaneously trying to withhold her own laughter.

"Grraah!"

She let out a cry of frustration and stomped off, only pausing to shoot Alistair a heated glare. "I don't like you…" she ground out, before storming away.

Alistair just smiled kindly. "A pleasure, as usual."

Meanwhile, Yang lost control of herself and broke down. "Hahahaha! Th-That was awesome!" she cackled, wrapping her arms around her stomach and collapsing to her knees in her hysterics.

Ruby sighed in relief. "Looks like I have to thank you again." she said with a little smile and a laugh.

The male shrugged. "You can pay me back later. I accept monetary and food compensation." he joked. At least she thought he was joking.

Yang stood up after recovering from her fit. "Buddy, you just made it into my good books." she said with a grin, before looking over the boy's shoulder at Renee, who was also trying her best to restrain a laughing fit at Alistair's prank. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Oh." Alistair blinked upon recalling his original reason for being there. "This is Renee; a friend of mine from back in Vale." he introduced.

The fox-girl waved. "Hi."

Alistair then turned back to Renee, gesturing to each girl in turn as he mentioned them. "This is Ruby, Yang, and…uhh." then he paused upon reaching the third girl, who had remained quiet throughout the whole exchange.

"Blake." she filled in helpfully, stowing away her book with mild irritation.

She knew she wasn't getting much reading done that night.

**Xxx Several minutes later xxx**

The group sat in a circle while chatting quietly to eachother, now wary about waking the other people in the room with them.

"… and when dad set off the fireworks, he burned off his eyebrows. We couldn't tell what kind of expression he was making for a few weeks after that." said Ruby with a soft giggle, finishing off her story. The rest of the group followed her in a round of stifled laughter.

With that one story done and the group now lacking a subject to talk about, Yang decided to, very helpfully, find a new one.

The blond turned to Alistair. "So, what's with the robes?" she asked him bluntly, earning a few curious glances from the other females and an uncomprehending one from the lone male.

"You'll have to be more specific." he prompted.

The girl reached out from her place to his left and gave the outer cloak a light tug that pulled it slightly out of place. "Well, most of the other guys around here are all topless, or at least wearing tank tops, so why are you dressed like a wandering priest?" she asked more specifically.

The male simply replaced his cloak on his shoulder, before crossing his arms over his chest with an annoyed huff. "Just because the males in this academy feel the need to strut about like peacocks flaunting their plumage doesn't mean I have to." he explained hastily.

The girls around him, sans Renee, all gave him their own confused looks, as though he had said something strange, while the said fluffy-tailed teen simply sighed and put her hand to her head.

"Aside from the fact that he _lives_ like a monk, I think he's just embarrassed." Renee explained with a bemused smirk.

Alistair looked at her with a betrayed expression. "I-I can assure you I am _nothing_ of the sort!" he denied.

Yang giggled from her place off to the side. "He's self-conscious about his body? Now _that_ is unexpectedly cute." she said, quoting the male's earlier line.

The inventor turned to her with a huff. "I am no such thing." he reiterated indignantly.

The blond leaned in. "Oh? So then what explanation do you have?" she asked.

Ruby was giggling off to the side, holding her belly. "S-Stop Yang. Leave the poor guy alone." she said, her face turning a light pink shade from the strain of keeping herself quiet.

The older sister gave her sibling a light shove. "Come on, it's funny and you know it." she said, causing Alistair to grind his teeth furiously.

Renee giggled at that as well, but ultimately shook her head. "No, he's not self-conscious." she explained, catching everyone's attention.

Alistair smirked and nodded. "Thank yo-"

"He's embarrassed about his scar."

"Piss off."

Alistair shot an annoyed, deadpan look at the girl, who grinned as she stuck out her tongue and subtly flipped him off behind her tail. The message was clear; _'That's for this morning!'_

Alistair just sulked, knowing what was inevitably coming next.

"What sort of scar?" asked the typically silent Blake, of all people, and the group all turned to her with a raised brow.

"What?" she asked.

The male just shrugged. "I just took you for the quiet type." he explained, causing the girl's face to flush in embarrassment as she looked away.

"I was just curious." she muttered.

Alistair chuckled at the girl's reaction, completely unaware to the fact that Renee was sneaking up on him. That was until-

"Yoink!"

The fox-girl pulled his robe down, exposing the right side of his chest and arm, yet oddly enough, he was quick enough to grab hold of the left side of his robe and keep it held fast to his torso, supposedly covering his scar.

He shot Renee a dry look. "Did you really think you could get the drop on me?" he inquired with an elevated brow, his glowing eyes fading back to normal.

The girl just held onto his cloak and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I figured you weren't paying attention." she replied with an awkward chuckle.

The male sighed and reached up to snatch the fabric away from her. "Renee, you, of all people, should know that I am always aware of my surround- hey!"

As he was berating his friend, Yang had somehow managed to sneak up on him and dove at him with a wide grin, much to the surprise of the other two girls and a few people who were watching from farther away.

She had clung tightly to the arm that was still clothed, and because of it, Alistair was struggling to break free. "Wha-What are you doing!?" he squawked, his face flushing a deep red as he flailed around in panic, contradictory to his usual controlled grace.

In his struggling, however, he failed to notice that his robe was slipping slowly off his arm, the hand that was holding it having been used to snatch back the other sleeve of the article from his brunette friend. This lasted until he looked directly at the amethyst eyes of his captor, and saw a familiar look of mischief in them, at which point he became very aware of the trap he'd found himself in.

"Oh…" he muttered, looking down just in time for the girl to wrench the robe from his torso, at which point the top half fell down around his waist, held in place only by his sash.

Renee and Yang shared a thumb's up behind his back. Oh… they were going to get along _just_ fine.

Afterward, both girls turned their attention back to Alistair's unclothed left shoulder, and Yang paused for a moment to look it over. The scar that they were referring to was a series of angry red lines that crisscrossed his body like a chain link fence or a fishing net. The mark ran the length of his left pectoral to about mid-chest, give-or-take a few inches, and down the outside of the upper arm, including the front and back of the limb to a degree. If anyone were less informed about the marks, they would have mistaken it for a tattoo marked in red ink.

The blond girl gave a low whistle, Blake raised a brow at the image, though it was directed more at Alistair's nervous shuffling, and Ruby stared with her mouth gaping slightly, obviously never having seen anything of the like before. "Where'd you get _that_?" asked the red-head, and Renee giggled.

"Well he-" the girl was silenced when Alistair flicked her left ear. "Gah!" the fox-girl yelped in surprise.

The young inventor huffed. "It's no-_thing!?_" the sentence ended in an awkward squeak when Yang clung to his arm again, forcibly pressing the scarred limb into her ample bosom.

"You don't need to be shy." she said with a wide, teasing grin on her face. "It suits you."

The brunette looked away from her, red-faced and coughing into his fist. He suddenly found the wall opposite Yang to be very interesting as he made weak, failing attempts to escape her clutch. Gone was the playful and eccentric young inventor, and in his place was left an awkward teen boy who was doing his best to avoid eye contact with a pretty girl.

It would seem she had learned to use his awkwardness against him.

Meanwhile, Renee had managed to move far enough away from her friend to speak without further interruptions, not that he could provide one in his current state.

"Well, it's not that he's shy or anything…" she paused and looked at the male's stunned expression as Yang continued to subdue him "… at least not about his body." The fox-tailed girl giggled at the way Alistair tensed in Yang's grip as the blond gave her a wink that said she had everything handled.

"He's just embarrassed about _how_ he got the scar." she shot her currently-paralyzed friend a mischievous smirk.

Ruby looked on in confusion, her curiosity overriding her conscience in dealing with the male's insecurities. "What do you mean?" she asked, purposely avoiding having to look at the admittedly provocative display her sister was putting on in restraining Alistair. The pink hue on her cheeks was enough to tell why.

Renee laughed at the memory. "Well, despite how it may seem, that scar didn't come in some grand or profound way…" she started. The girl checked to make sure her friend was still firmly held in place before continuing.

"It happened about three years ago…"

**Xxx Flashback xxx**

_ A fourteen year old Renee entered the large garage that Alastair called a workshop, where the boy was tinkering with some sort of device._

_It looked like a novelty toy hand-cannon, with a wide, stubby barrel that one could fit a basketball into and a large stock for resting the device against the user's shoulder. The image left the small girl confused, so she approached from behind him with silent footsteps, hoping to get a look at his project from over the shoulder. _

"_Hello Renee." he said simply without even turning to face her._

_The girl laughed at being caught. "Hey there, Alistair." she returned the greeting "What do you have there?"_

_The male continued to prod around in the barrel of the weapon as he answered. "It's an electro-magnetic net launcher. It's __supposed__ to fire a magnetized metal net that clings to armor." he explained, annoyance clearly written on his features and in his voice._

"_Supposed to?" asked the girl with a quirked brow._

_The young inventor sighed. "Well, it's obviously defective. Found the damndable thing in the scrapyard with nary a scratch aside from the dented barrel, but when I charged it up and attempted to fire the net, it got caught in there." he explained._

_Renee frowned in thought. "So, it's charged right?" she asked_

_Alistair nodded "Yes, it is."_

_Her brows furrowed. "As in, with electrical Dust?"_

_The male shot her an odd look. "Unless there's another alternative you can think of." He then returned to the machine._

"_And you tried to fire it…" the girl trailed off._

_Alistair rolled his eyes at her implications. "I highly doubt this net is electrified. There's no company out there that would be dimwitted enough to design something like this without safety features in the event the electrical Dust came in contact with the metal net. That could be immeasurably dangerous." he said as he continued his tinkering._

"_Safety features?" she asked with a hum._

"_Yes, like a failsafe in the event damage is done to the Dust storage compartment." he clarified._

_Renee stared at him with a deadpan look. "You mean like something to stop the net from firing if it comes in contact with the Dust?"_

_Alistair balked. "Well…"_

_*Click*_

"_Oh-"_

**Xxxxxx End Flashback xxxxxx**

The three girls were left mute as Renee's story devolved into a series of muffled laughter, though it wasn't stifled by the girl herself, as opposed to Alistair, who had struggled free of Yang's grasp some time in the middle of the story and threw his hand over the girl's mouth.

The three weren't quiet for too long, however, as they soon joined in on the laughter. "W-Wait… you mean to tell me you actually electrocuted yourself?" asked a near-hysterical Yang as she held her stomach, trying not to laugh too loudly and disturb the room.

Blake was left momentarily stunned by the new information, but the slight twitching at the corner of her lips one could tell she was repressing a smile or snicker. "That failsafe seems… a bit too obvious to miss. I mean there's a reason it was in the trash."

Alistair crossed his arms with a huff. "I-I was young and lacked foresight."

Renee snickered as she broke from his grasp. "As opposed to now?" she asked sarcastically.

"I swear, if it wasn't for that semblance of yours, you'd probably walk right into an Ursa without even noticing." she said, jabbing him lightly in the ribs. The male grumbled something under his breath but was unable to respond to her comment, seeing as it was more-or-less true.

That caught Ruby's attention. "Wait, semblance?"

Alistair nodded. "Yes. Much like you have your supernatural speed, I also have an astounding ability along the same vein." he said half-braggingly "However, I cannot say what it is just yet. Must maintain some element of surprise after all."

"He has elevated brain functions." Renee cut in.

"Damn it woman!"

"Pfft-hahaha!" Yang collapsed onto her back with her face practically glowing from the effort of restricting her laughter until that point.

Blake, on the other hand, was more intrigued by Renee's words. "What do you mean when you say his brain functions are 'elevated'?" she asked.

The fox-girl paused and hummed. "Well that's… I mean… err… he can- I dunno- see faster?" **(1)** the other girls looked at her oddly, obviously confused. The fox-girl scratched her head awkwardly "I dunno; it's hard to explain." she muttered, before glancing over to Alistair. "Could you help me out?"

The male simply sighed "Might as well at this point." he grumbled reluctantly. "My semblance increases the rate at which my synapses fire, among other things. Essentially, my perceptive abilities and the rate at which my mind processes information increases drastically." he explained, and Blake nodded in understanding. The sisters, however, seemed uncomprehending, though Yang's in case it may have been because she was busy laughing for the first part of the explanation.

"Uhh…" Ruby started "I know what you mean… but how does it- you know- work?"

Alistair chuckled sheepishly, but cleared his throat moments later. "Essentially, it allows me to perceive the world more clearly. It's always active, making my senses stronger and sharper than most people, which is in-and-of itself a boon, however I can focus it to increase my sensory perception to incredible levels." His eyes then changed again; they radiated a dull grey glow and his pupils narrowed to pinpricks. "While this is active, I take note of things most others would miss, all colours are crisper and clearer, sounds are sharper, and the world slows to a crawl around me as I take in every aspect about my surroundings at once." he explained more thoroughly.

Blake's eyes widened marginally. "So that explains it." she said, earning a few confused looks from most of the others, sans Alistair himself. "Earlier, I had a… weird feeling when you were watching me. Like I was… well… being watched." she explained lamely, scratching her head.

Alistair nodded. "Yes, you must have amazing instincts."

Renee gave him a dry look. "Not even going to deny you were using your semblance to stalk the girl?" she said, only earning a nod from the male. She sighed resting an arm on her knee and leaning her head on her hand. "Pervert."

Meanwhile, Ruby assumed a thinking pose. "Your semblance gives you the ability to… Oh! So that's how you did that sword trick earlier." she said in realization, causing the male to falter.

"Well… I suppose so." he admitted reluctantly, looking somewhat downcast.

Renee snickered. "Aww, did she see through your parlor trick?" she asked mockingly, giving him a pat on the back.

Alistair sighed. "I was just hoping to perpetuate the mystery a while longer."

Renee laughed a little. "Oh, Alistair. You should know by now that you're not cool enough to pull off the whole 'mysterious man' thing."

The male gave her a deadpan look. "_You_ don't even know everything about me."

The girl turned sheepish, scratching her head. "W-Well, maybe we would know eachother better if you weren't so secretive about everything."

"There's a reason for that." Alistair grumbled out with a huff. "You seem to find amusement in my suffering."

Despite his complaining about her propensity towards antics, it was obvious that he was really just still annoyed about her earlier blabbing, but she didn't seem to care much, given how she was laughing quietly at his expense. Of course, this only proved his point.

The male's pouting came to an end, however, when Yang threw her arms around his left bicep again, causing his entire body to freeze up and his jaw to go slack. "It's okay, I still think you're cool." she said as she "comforted" him with a devious gleam in her eyes, causing Renee to laugh once more.

"You know we don't need hold him any more." said the fox-girl as she restrained the humor in her voice.

Yang just gave a cheeky grin. "I know, but his reactions are funny."

Ruby blushed at the display. "Y-Yang!" she squeaked out.

"Sorry Rubes, but I'm borrowing him for a while." she said with a snicker, though the redhead was only left confused.

"W-what do you mean 'borrowing him'?" she asked.

The blond sighed and shook her head. "Oh, Ruby… I'll explain it to you some day."

Blake rolled her eyes at the group's combined behavior and opened her book again as she returned to her reading, obviously no longer invested in the conversation at hand.

Alistair somehow managed to regain his faculties and shook his head, before pulling at his arm, trying to dislodge it from the girl. "Perhaps you should do that now. To avoid future confusion of course. In fact, if you let me go, I'll just leave you to that." he said, squirming in her grip.

The girl grinned. "Oh, no… you're not going anywhere." she said as she tightened her grasp on him, holding him still.

"D-Damn it Yang, unhand me!"

Meanwhile, Ren and Nora were sat on the opposite end of the room.

"Nora, go to bed." groaned Ren for the hundredth time that evening.

"But Renny! I'm so excited about tomorrow!" the girl whined, writhing in place as she sat on her sleeping cot.

The man sighed "I know, but if you go to bed now, then the wait will go by faster." he tried to reason with her.

The girl pause, blinking in realization as his logic sunk in. "Ohh… okay. I'll try."

"Thank you." he said with a relieved sigh as the girl lay down and covered herself up with a blanket.

"…"

"…"

"Renny?"

"…"

"Are you asleep?"

"No."

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

**And that's a wrap!**

**Sorry for the lack of action and the over-abundance of commentary, but I felt that this lull in the story was a good enough time to at least establish some of the character interactions and Alistair's abilities.**

**(1): Yes, this is a reference to Screw Attack. If you don't know about it, watch Death Battle.**

**So, the changes I made were really minimum; various alterations to the flow of sentences, changing a few paragraphs so that they mesh better with the story, and once more removing the term "milady" from the story entirely. **

**I just wanted to make it clear that I wrote that before I realized hipsters were a thing, and I had intended it to be used in a non-serious, joking way to emulate the speech patterns of the pre-industrial England. It wasn't Alistair being flirty, it was his way of playfully prodding the girls.**

**Glad that I caught that before I went any further into the story. Looking back on it now, it seems a bit creepy.**

**Though, on the subject of flirting; no, Yang isn't actually trying to seduce Alistair. I believe that it's already established in the cannon that she's at least a bit of a pervert, but the only reason she's clinging to him is because she's a joker and finds amusement in his reactions. In addition, she isn't going to be outright trashy in this fic either, so don't go thinking her scenes are going to be completely consumed by senseless T&amp;A. There's my to love-ru fic for that. **

**I mean, she'll show a bit more of her flirtatious character from time-to-time, but she won't just be a sex symbol like in some fics.**

**Some of you might also be confused by Ruby's reaction to the display, mainly how easy it was to fluster her and how naïve she seems in terms of sexuality. I made her this way because I always figured she wouldn't have much knowledge when it came to the opposite sex; she always struck me as the type to see men and women as just people, as opposed to opposing genders. She never gives much thought to sexuality, and the one time she does, it's just a comment on how her father would react to their sleeping arrangements in the academy. **

**They also say that she's anti-social in the show, so obviously she doesn't have much in the way of romantic experience, nor does she seem like the type to care about it. Her self-imposed solitary lifestyle, mixed with what I assume is a somewhat protective father (going by his brief appearances and mentions in the show), would likely have left Ruby very sensitive to sexualized situations, leaving her blushing and stuttering. **

**In addition to that, during the Roosterteeth animated recap (Yes this is a bit of a stretch), Ruby obviously has some aversion to flirting. When the animated versions of Gus and Joel flirt with them, she immediately flees the scene with an expression of panic and disgust. This might not be strictly cannon, but I figure it speaks to her personality nonetheless.**

**Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter, and the fic in general. Feedback's important, etc… I just wanna know if you lot like it. **

**Well, that's all I have to talk about for now. I'll see you all in the next chapter.**

**Buh-bye!**


	5. Morning Rituals

From Ashes

Chapter 4: Morning Rituals

**Alright, so, this chapter is one of the reasons I was a bit late with this chapter was because I was wondering; should I keep it part of chapter 3, or make it a new chapter itself?**

**I ended up going with this option because the last chapter ended at a good point- at least I think so- but at the same time, I feel like these scenes could be used for some last-minute exposition/foreshadowing before taking off into the emerald forest for almost non-stop action scenes. At the same time, though, I don't feel like this will be long enough to make a full chapter, but I suppose we'll see based on the comments. **

**Anyways, I don't have much to say here, so I'll let you read this shitty half-chapter. I hope you enjoy.**

"Speech"

'_Thought/Reading'_

"Synthesized/Robotic Speech"

*Onomatopoeia* (sound effect)

**(Author's Note)**

**Xxxxxx Scene Change xxxxxx**

**xxxxxx **Scene Break

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any materials referenced here. Trust me, I wish I did.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

Alistair's ashen grey eyes snapped open that morning as he was stirred from his sleep by a loud, energetic voice from across the room. "Wake up, lazy butt!"

The brunette glanced over, across the room towards the source of the commotion, and bore witness to a black-haired man with magenta eyes being badgered by an odd orange-haired girl with seemingly boundless energy. "It's morning! It's morning! It's morning!" she chanted excitedly, darting around at speeds that he thought would have matched Ruby's own, had he not known better.

The brunette chuckled at his fellow student's apparent misfortune. _'Bad luck, mate. Better him than I, though.'_ he thought, before getting up from the floor and brushing off his robes. He had to prepare for the day, and there was no time to waste, so he left the room with a brisk stride, shaking his head with a bemused smile. "Hate to be in his position."

He shuddered suddenly, as though caught by a chilly breeze _'What- I feel an ill omen…'_ he thought ominously.

As the grey-eyed male left the room, he failed to notice Renee staring at him mischievously out the corner of her eye, before turning and approaching a groaning Ren and chattering Nora as the former did up his sleeping cot in a nice roll for easy storage.

The brunette girl smiled "Hey, guys. You seem energetic." she said happily.

Ren sighed tiredly. "Nora's excited about the test this morning. Because of that, she had trouble sleeping last night… and so did I." he complained, pointedly staring over at the fidgeting girl at that last part.

His look went completely ignored as Nora, who had eagerly been waiting her turn to speak before then, darted up to her fox-tailed friend with a wide grin on her face. "Oh! Oh! Renee! Are you excited too!?" she asked, energetically hopping up and down in place, balancing on the balls of her feet.

The faunus girl couldn't help a little laugh. "Of course. I mean we are being admitted into Beacon academy, of all places. How could I not be excited?"

Nora's grin only broadened at the comment "I know! It's too much for me to bear!" she said, before grabbing Ren's hand and pulling him towards the door. "Onward, companions!" she declared, dragging the boy behind her.

"Ugh… please help me." groaned the lethargic, magenta-eyed teen.

Renee simply laughed at his predicament. "Sorry; no-can-do." she replied as she followed the pair out the door.

On their way out, they passed Ruby and Yang, both of which gave Renee a brief wave before returning to the task at hand. "Wonder who those two were." said the blond sister, only to receive a shrug from her junior.

"Don't know." she said cheerily, before slinging a bag over her shoulder.

Yang mimicked the action and gave a brief hum, before looking out over the room. "I don't see Alistair around, so maybe they went off to find him?" she suggested.

"Probably." replied Ruby, once more the answer coming in a short, happy chirp.

Yang turned to her sister with an arched brow. "Uhh. Well, I guess it doesn't matter much anyways. We'll see them at the test." she said, before moving away from their sleeping area and towards the door. "C'mon, let's get to the locker room before there's a lineup at the showers" she suggested, beckoning her sister to follow along. The redhead complied swiftly wish a skip to her step, humming a chipper, tuneless melody.

Neither girl paid much attention Blake slowly rising from her own cot with a stretch not far away.

**Xxxxxx Later that morning; School cafeteria xxxxxx **

Alistair, now dressed in his combat/casual outfit, stood in line behind a few other students as he waited his turn, reading from the breakfast menu while he did.

"Hmm… pancakes, yogurt, eggs… maybe some fresh fruit." he muttered to himself as he went over the options, the chill he'd felt all-but forgotten as he found something to occupy himself for the time. He paused, however, when an odd presence pressed on his heightened senses from somewhere nearby, prompting him to look around the area with furrowed brows.

His eyes eventually came to rest on a small figure, who stood no taller than his bellybutton. The person in question was clad in a dark blue cloak with a high collar, a white fur trim, and small, fluffy, white tassels hung from the front by strings, likely in order to tie the collar shut if need be. Upon their head was a wide-brimmed, pointed-topped blue hat of the same shade with a similar white trim around the edge.

Everything else was concealed by the shadows of their outfit, not revealing so much as a toe from within; however, he could tell from the way the hat was tilted that the smaller person was looking up at him from under the brim. Naturally, this left the male confused.

"Uhh…" he started, looking down at the short entity. "Hello."

"…"

At first, no indication was given that the individual had heard him, and he was rather perturbed by that fact, as the person simply stood there, staring at him. The person beneath the cloak stood in place for a moment, before slowly, gradually lifting their head to look up at him more properly, revealing their face… or at least a third of it.

All Alistair saw was a thin strip of pale skin between a set of eyes that were such a pale colour that he would have thought they were pure white if it weren't for the slightest hint of pink shading around the pupils. Falling around those piercing eyes was a few locks of silvery hair that glinted in the sun streaming in through the windows. The rest of the person's face was concealed by a dark blue mask.

Those pale rose-colored orbs stared up at him blankly, with no expression present in their depths; it was like looking into the eyes of a doll.

Alistair returned the stare with a confused look of his own. _'That's… odd.'_ he thought _'What does this person want?'_ he asked in his mind as they continued to stare at eachother._ 'Gods; I can't even tell the gender.'_

"…"

"…"

Still, they remained staring for the better part of two minutes as people moved around them, steering clear of the apparent contest of wills. Alistair quirked his brow at the odd teen. "Did you… need something?"

"…" Still, the short being remained silent as an unmarked grave, and about as enigmatic.

Eventually, Alistair became fed up with the mysterious little person. _'This is getting me nowhere. Maybe I should just-'_ he thought as he was about to turn around, only to pause as he caught sight of something that no normal person would; something so subtle, so minute, that he almost missed it._ 'Wait…'_

He turned to look at the counter at his side, and noticed something there, which he then grabbed from its place on the surface and brought to bare in front of the short figure. "Is… this what you wanted?" he asked, holding aloft a small fruit cup filled with cherries and pineapples.

"…" The small person nodded silently- almost invisibly- and held out his/her hands to receive the object.

While most people would be perturbed and/or irritated by the oddity, Alistair was simply intrigued, and as such was very level-headed and calm when dealing with the short person. He leaned forward and placed the cup into the person's hands, which it seems were clad in black gloves, before standing up with a friendly smile. "There you are. Now, if that is all, I bid you good day, my friend." he said with a small chuckle before turning around as the small figure clutched the fruit cup in his/her grasp, looking down at it.

Alistair himself grabbed his own breakfast and made his way over to another table, where Renee was sat eating alone whilst scribbling in her notepad. She stowed it away when he joined her, however, and looked up at him with a small smirk. "Friend of yours?"

Alistair sighed. "Honestly, I'm not quite sure. That one was… hard to read."

"The great, perceptive Alistair has trouble reading someone? Stop the presses." she joked with a snort, getting an indignant huff from the male. "Also, 'that one?'" she asked.

The inventor gave her a deadpan look. "Can _you_ tell the gender?"

Renee suddenly looked sheepish. "Err… alright, you got me there." she said.

Suddenly, a commotion caught both their attention as they heard a loud bang echoed off the walls of the mostly-empty room, causing them both to turn towards it, along with the rest of the people present.

There, a blond male with a bowl cut as being held against the table by a mountainous monster teen; at first, the pair had mistaken the 5'11" male for one of the professors, but his growling hiss of a voice was clearly too youthful for an adult.

"You thought I didn't hear that, bitch!?" he growled out, causing the other male to whimper in his grasp. "I oughta put that chair up your ass for that! Then we'll see who the real 'freak' is when yer shittin' splinters an' chair legs!"

The taller male stared down the blond, before snorting and releasing his neck. "Tch. Ain't worth the trouble…" he grumbled he said, before walking out. he paused, however, and turned back "But next time, I'm bitin' one of yer fingers." he warned "Got that?"

The quivering male could only squeak pathetically and nod, prompting a wide, malicious grin from the larger male before he turned and walked away, giving an ominous chuckle.

"Huh, must be having a bad day." said Jaune as he joined his technologically-inclined friend at the table.

"I'll say." said Renee with a chuckle.

As soon as Jaune lay eyes on her, he lit up with astonishment. "I… Woah…" he said, before coughing into his fist and regained his composure. Putting on a suave façade, he addressed the girl.

"Jaune arc." he introduced himself coolly, holding out his hand.

Renee looked amused as she played along, holding out her own. The blond took the hand and, with a somewhat clumsy touch, he kissed her knuckles in what he likely assumed was a tender way.

The fox-girl giggled at his antics while Alistair simply rolled his eyes with a groan.

"Well, aren't you a charmer?" she teased him.

The boy brightened up at that. "Y-You really think so?" he asked, his coolness slipping into a more energetic tone.

Renee smirked as she withdrew her hand and rested her chin on it. "Not really." she said, dashing his hopes.

"O-Oh…" said the male, looking mildly downtrodden.

The girl giggled, however. "But you _are_ cute. That earns you points in my book." she consoled him.

Jaune brightened noticeably. "W-Well then." he said, returning to his previous "charming" demeanor "Maybe you and I…" he trailed off suggestively.

The girl laughed again. "Sorry to tell you, but I'm in a happy relationship." she said, once more causing the male to slump in his chair. "Also, you came on a bit strong. Still, it was cute." she giggled.

Alistair snorted. "You truly are a heartbreaker, aren't you Renee?" he said almost condescendingly.

The fox-girl stuck out her tongue at him. "You're just jealous because I can get some."

The male rolled his eyes "Yet you're still a virgin."

"W-What!? H-How would you know?"

"I didn't. But you stutter like a buffering video when you're embarrassed." Alistair pointed out dryly, causing Renee to slump forward in her seat.

Jaune, meanwhile, was looking between the two other teens, having broken from his earlier depressed stupor. "T-These tow… they're completely-"

**Xxxxxx Later; First Year Locker Room xxxxxx**

"Ridiculous!" cried the blond knight as he made his way between a few rows of lockers. "There's no way I would have put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would have remembered having to count that high." He was reading off some sort of paper, likely with the number of his locker written down on it.

As he walked, he passed by the large man from the incident in the cafeteria, who was now topless and wielding a massive serrated sword. He grinned, putting a set of sharp teeth on display as he gave it a few test swings, before planting it in a nearby wall with a lout *Bang!* that shattered that section of the drywall. With a satisfied nod, he then gave a small grunt as he tore it free and sent rubble scattering all over the room.

One such piece of plaster flew over a number of lockers and landed at Yang's foot, just as she pulled it down off a bench, having fastened her boot to the limb. "Geez. Sounds like someone's having a bad day." she said to her sister, who was behind her, digging through her own locker to retrieve her weapon.

"Yeah, sure does." replied the hooded girl.

Yang then turned back to face her. "Speaking of moods; you seem really happy."

Ruby grinned at that declaration. "Yep, no more awkward small talk or getting-to-know-you stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." she said, cradling her rifle like a child and caressing it gingerly.

"Your 'sweetheart?'" asked the familiar voice of Renee from off to the side. The other two girls turned to greet her, only to pause as they caught sight of her combat gear.

Her body was covered in a set of leather armor. It looked like a dark brown leotard made entirely of stained leather that went down to cover her torso and crotch areas, but not much else. A set of black spandex shorts fell from underneath the dark leather to cover down to her knees, stopping just under the kneepads of her leather greaves, which were fastened by belts over a set of matching boots. Her arms were mostly covered by similar spandex sleeves that went up to her wrists, where they just barely touched a set of fingerless gloves, though the area where they met was hidden under a set of wrist bracers.

"Alistair wasn't kidding when he said you were into weapons. But I didn't think it reached that extent" she joked.

Ruby looked at her strangely. "What do you mean by 'that extent?'"

Renee gestured to the sniper in her friend's grip. "I think you left some drool on it." she pointed out, causing the other girls to look at it.

Yang cringed and looked away from the gun while Ruby rubbed it with her sleeve, wiping away the saliva as she laughed in embarrassment. "Eheheh…"

"Speaking of weapons…" the younger girl changed the subject, searching Renee's form for something "what sort do you use?"

The fox-girl laughed at her young friend's enthusiasm. "Well, why not take a look for yourself." she said, pulling a set of weapons from her back.

They looked like a pair of hook-blades, as would be commonly found on monks, but they were obviously altered to be more effective at combating grimm. The crescent-shaped hand guards of the blades stopped short on top, revealing a set of gun barrels, which were obviously connected to the triggers in the handles. At the bottom of each weapon was a small blade, obviously meant for deadly pommel-strikes, but just above each one was a roll of metal wire on a spool, similar to that of a fishing rod.

Ruby looked on in wonder at the weapons. "Oh wow…" she said, examining the weapons' design and quality. "They're so cool! What did you call them?"

"I call them 'Twin Spirits.'" said the fox-girl with a grin "I got the idea out of a book I read once."

Yang lifted a questioning brow. "Is that the one where two souls are fighting for control of a man's body?"

"No; it was called 'Ninja's of Love.'" Renee said with a grin.

The blond girl snorted as she held back a laugh.

Ruby, meanwhile, disregarded the conversation as she examined the intricacies of the weapons. "Cool! There's a mechanism for retractable wires attached to the blades! This is pretty complex!"

Renee laughed a little. "Hehe, you think _these_ are complex? Alistair's weapon is more of a puzzle than an actual fighting implement."

The cloaked girl blinked owlishly in surprise, before slowly lighting up in excitement. "Oh! Now I wanna see it even more!" she said. "He was acting all mysterious about it yesterday, so I didn't know anything about it, but now I really wanna know!" the girl rambled on.

The fluffy-tailed girl rolled her eyes and at her friend's antics and her ears flicked. "Well, that sounds like something he'd do. Sometimes, I think he gets a kick out of keeping people guessing."

Yang decided to cut in here. "So, what sort of weapon _does_ he have?"

The brunette hummed. "Well… it's hard to explain…"

Meanwhile; Alistair was sifting through his locker with a hum of his own.

"Let's see… I'll take this bit, and this one. The claws are a must." He muttered idly to himself as he attached various technological components to a metal gauntlet that went up his left arm, including a single pauldron that covered his left pectoral and shoulder blade.

He fastened a set of small pistons to the back of the forearm, which he connected to a set of curved metal spikes, which extended out in front of his knuckles before retracting again. "Hmm. I hope they don't bend so easily this time." he mused, rotating his wrist and arm to test the range of movement, before nodding in satisfaction.

The male then reached into his locker again to retrieve another set of components, only to be distracted as he heard a strikingly familiar voice from somewhere off to the side.

"So, Pyrrha… have you given any thought about whose team you're going to be on?" asked the female, prompting Alistair to look over to the side, where Weiss was speaking to the aforementioned Pyrrha.

Said girl was a redhead, but unlike Ruby, her hair was a bright, tomato red shade, which was done up in a ponytail that reached her waist, though it was hanging off the back of her head, as opposed to Weiss' own. The shade of said hairdo somehow matched her luminescent turquoise eyes, which would occasionally flick about the environment, almost unnoticeably; a sure sign of a seasoned veteran.

Once more, Alistair's eyes were attracted to the physique of this known warrior as he sized her up. She had muscular arms, without seeming like a muscle-bound strong-woman, and her whole body looked lean and powerful. Put simply; she looked like a close-quarters fighter, similar to yang, but meant for far more agile combat tactics, rather than simple bruit force, as made evident my her ensemble.

She was clad mostly in brown leather and bronze, with a brown chest piece/torso armor to protect her upper body, divided down the middle by what looked like a bronze plate, and a matching bronze bracer on her left arm, just below an armband that sat over her bicep. Adorning both arms was a pair of dark brown gloves that climbed up her arm to a point just above her elbows, similar in shade and material to her leggings, high-heeled boots, and elastic-looking miniskirt. Said leggings were covered in a set of thick bronze armor that stopped mid-thigh, covering most of her legs while not inhibiting mobility by any means, as made obvious whenever she changed her position.

To finish off her look, she adorned herself with several pieces of jewelry. Upon her head was a bronze tiara that was mostly hidden by her bangs, but still visible when she turned her head to address Weiss; an action that also revealed a set of teardrop-shaped ornaments the same shade as her eyes that hung from chains off the sides. A bronze gorget protected her neck from assault, though the fact that a large patch of skin between her collarbone and cleavage was left exposed made Alistair question the effectiveness of that particular accessory.

"I'm sure everyone must be eager to pair with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself." Weiss finished her earlier thought.

Alistair rolled his eyes. "Brownnose." he muttered at the obvious flattery, only to pause as Pyrrha actually seemed to consider the offer. _'Poor girl must be so accustomed to hollow praise that she has no concept of when people are being genuine.' _the inventor mused. _'Probably a result of her fame and popularity.'_

"Hmm… I am not quite sure…" said the redhead warrior-woman. When she spoke, Alistair was intrigued to note, she did so almost awkwardly, as though taking care to pronounce every word correctly and make sure she didn't trip over her own tongue. It was almost as though English was not her first language. **(1)**

"I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may." she said simply with a smile and a small laugh.

Weiss, putting on her own wide smile, continued her kissing-up. "Well, I was hoping that we could be on a team together."

"Well that sounds grand." replied Pyrrha in her odd way.

Naturally, Weiss was celebrating the positive response. "Great!" she cheered happily, but on the inside, she was thinking something totally different.

'_This will be perfect! The strongest girl in class combined with the smartest!'_ she thought_ 'Together we will be unstoppable! I can see it now; we'll be popular- celebrities!- and we'll even get perfect grades! Nothing can stop us now! Nothing can come between us!'_

Meanwhile, Alistair stood over to the side of the room with confusion written across his features _'What… What __is__ that girl doing?'_ he thought, watching the girls turn away from eachother, only for Weiss to rub her hands together with an almost evil smile on her face. The brunette simply rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Must be a female thing…"

He turned back to his weapon, grabbing a few vials of different colored Dust in its purified form before hooking it up to various different ports near the shoulder pad.

His attention was drawn back to the conversation, however, when he heard another familiar voice. "You know what else is awesome? Me. Jaune Arc."

'_And once more, our would-be Casanova has returned.'_ Alistair thought with a roll of his eyes. "Should be good for a laugh, at least."

"Who are you exactly?" asked Weiss, confused and unnerved by the sudden appearance of this strange person.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, seemed interested. "Nice to meet you, Jaune." she said

Then, much to Alistair's surprise, the blond actually pushed her aside. "Yeah, yeah." He said dismissively as he sidled up next to Weiss "So, I couldn't help overhear you admiring me the other day."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me…" muttered the pale girl in exasperation, resting her face in her hand.

Over on the sidelines, Alistair was had to agree with her sentiment. _'Though, you get what you deserve. A punishment of your own creation.'_ he thought with a soft, amused smirk as he watched Jaune flex, though the effect was completely eliminated by the presence of his pauldron hiding the bicep from view.

Jaune continued on with the same arrogant, flirtatious tone he had tried on Renee earlier that morning. "Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed."

'_I'm more embarrassed for his sake.'_ added Alistair as he pulled a screwdriver from his locker and began fastening some mechanical components in place on his arm.

"So; I've been hearing rumors about teams~." the knight said in a singsong voice. "I was thinking that we might make a good one. Whaddya say?" he asked, leaning in with that flirtatious smirk on his face.

"Actually," Pyrrha cut in "I think the teams are comprised of four people each, so-"

"Ya don't say." Jaune once more cut her short, still using a semi-dismissive tone. Though he actually seemed to regard her this time, leaving Weiss' side to join her. "Well, hot stuff, maybe if you play your cards right, you can end up on the winning tea-"

"Ron, was it?" asked Weiss, pushing the two apart.

"It's Jaune, actual-"

"Right, right;" this time, it was the blond being brushed off dismissively "Do you have _any_ idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow-angel."

Alistair fumbled with his screwdriver as he nearly dropped it in surprise when he heard that comment, sputtering incoherently while simultaneously withholding a bark of laughter. _'S-Snow-angel? Really?'_

"This is Pyrrha Nikos.-"

"Hello again."

"-She graduated at the top of her class in Sanctum." Weiss explained.

"Never heard of it." Jaune responded, remaining suave and flirty despite his lacking knowledge.

While the redhead's face remained in a small, pleasant smile, Weiss looked more annoyed. "She's won the Mistral regional tournament four years in a row. A new record." she said, apparently more offended by his lack of knowledge than Pyrrha was.

"The wha-?"

That got him an odd look from both Weiss and Alistair, though the white-haired girl's look turned irritated after a second. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's marshmallow flakes box!" exclaimed the girl, flailing her arms in stress as she tried to emphasize the importance of her fellow freshman.

Recognition lit up in Jaune's eyes as his "cool guy" persona instantly fell away and he gasped in surprise. "That's you!?" he exclaimed, pointing at the redhead "They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

Alistair shot his friend a deadpan look. _'Something about that doesn't sit well with me.'_ he thought _'Even the most dimwitted huntsmen should know of Mistral, if not Pyrrha Nikos herself… Something doesn't add up.'_

The brunette hummed in thought as Pyrrha herself lamented her part as the cereal mascot.

"So, after hearing that, do you _really_ think you're in any place to be asking her to join your team?" asked Weiss.

Jaune slumped in disappointment. "I… guess not. Sorry."

Pyrrha waked over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Actually, I think you'd make a great leader." she said seriously, looking him in the eye.

Instantly, the male perked up. "D'aww, stop it." he said energetically.

Weiss came up beside her. "Seriously, stop it." she said in a deadpan "Don't encourage him."

Jaune, however, wasn't deterred by her comment. "Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick." he said, instantly turning on his suave façade again. "Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. Whaddya say?"

Alistair quirked a brow at the sudden mood swing. _'It's like flipping a switch.'_

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the blond was getting too close for Weiss' comfort, as she instantly started to back away from him. "Uhh…" she turned to Pyrrha for assistance "A little help?"

*whoosh*

"Gwaah!"

With a good toss, Pyrrha's spear flew over Jaune's shoulder and pinned him to a wall on the opposite end of the locker room, keeping him stuck there by his hood. "Sorry!" called the redhead after him.

Alistair rolled his eyes at the would-be flirt as he returned to his weapon, making the final adjustments needed before combat. "I suppose he deserves some credit for persistence." he said aloud.

Renee stepped out from behind a locker nearby with a roll of her eyes. "Probably." She admitted "But it was still kinda embarrassing to watch."

Alistair looked over to her with an elevated brow. "I was thinking just that earlier." he said, once more testing his arm for mobility before he shut his locker. "Though, I have to admit, the whole exchange was… enlightening." he muttered ominously as he glanced briefly at Jaune.

The fox-girl looked briefly over to her friend, but shook her head with a sigh moments later, opting not to question him.

Instead, she went for another topic. "So… Am I the only one who thinks Weiss was being a bit of a hypocrite?" she inquired, causing Alistair to look at her questioningly.

"How so?"

The girl rolled her eyes once more. "I mean; 'Are you really in any position to ask her to join your team?' after she did _just_ that?" she asked, making her voice go really high-pitched in clear mockery of the shorter girl's voice.

"Oh…" the male said, turning back to Jaune as Pyrrha passed him by, retrieving her spear. "Yes; well, she is quite deceptive. It's likely that she was trying to secure her position as the 'miracle girl's' partner."

Renee chuckled a little at that. "Being a massive, blatant hypocrite in order to further her own agenda while simultaneously and brutally stomping down any competition?" the girl said with a smirk. "She'd make a decent politician if she were a bit older."

Alistair turned to her with a sarcastic smirk. "And you would make a decent thief if you were a bit smarter."

The girl huffed in annoyance. "If I'm such a bad thief, then how come I'm- ggrrrghhh"

"How come you're a twitching mess on the floor?" Alistair finished for her. "Probably because you forgot that I rigged my wallet to electrocute anyone stupid enough to try and take it without my consent."

He then bent down to retrieve his wallet, only to drop it the moment it left the girl's hand. "Gah!" he cried, holding his twitching, spasming right arm.

"And that was…?" asked Renee breathlessly as she pushed herself off the floor slowly.

"A brief oversight." he responded, picking up the object with his other hand and deactivating the shock feature, before stowing it in his pocket.

Renee scowled as she flexed her arm a few times. "Damn… I lost feeling there for a second."

The male looked over to her with a curious expression. "It's a miracle that you didn't bite off your own tongue…" he said, before humming to himself. "It's also a sign that I should increase the output." he mused.

The fox-girl balked. "The scary thing is; I'm not sure whether you're joking or being serious…"

Alistair simply stalked off, humming an unidentifiable tune to himself on his way to meet up with Jaune, who had been joined by the Rose/Xiao-Long sisters since his liberation from the spear.

"Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" asked Yang as Ruby held out her hand to help the poor boy up.

"I don't understand." replied Jaune, accepting the hand and standing up "My dad said that all women look for is confidence."

"Like I said; you tend to come on a bit strong." Renee said as she walked up to the group, her tail a bit fluffier than usual, likely due to the hairs standing on-end.

Yang giggled. "Yeah, 'snow angel' probably wasn't the best start." she explained.

Alistair snorted as he passed them by. "Least of all with Weiss." he said, garnering the group's attention. "For as much as I disagree with her, she at least seems like a practical woman, who dislikes such… ham-fisted advances." he reasoned. Despite his- admittedly poor- attempt at holding his tongue and keeping himself from saying something _too_ insulting, the comment still seemed to put the blue-eyed male in a slump as he lamented his failure.

"So… maybe I did come on a bit strong. But can you really judge me?" he muttered to himself.

Renee elbowed Alistair. "Ow. What?" he hissed out at the girl. She then gestured pointedly over to the depressed blond, causing the male to blink owlishly. "What- oh!" he said, apparently just realizing he'd hurt Jaune's feelings.

"Look… uhh…" he paused, clearing his throat "Cheer up?" he tried in a weak attempt to shake the knight from his depression.

When that failed, he sighed in irritation. "Honestly, I've no idea why you're so distraught over it." said the young inventor. "It's not as thought you're missing out on anything. My advice; take up a hobby. Something worth your note" he said, and though it was an attempt to cheer the male up, it sounded very dismissive and awkward.

That tactic obviously didn't work, though, seeing as the blond remained slumped over.

"Gah!"

The brunette boy's sudden, distressed cry broke Jaune from his moping and prompted him to look up at the other teen.

Yang had, once again, fastened herself to his arm, this time on his right, while Ruby grabbed his left hand and looked over his gauntlet in wonder as she tried to discern its innermost workings.

"Ohh, you're so awkward Alistair… that's soo cute!" said Yang teasingly, trying to get a rise out of the blunt brunette, much to his chagrin as he tensed up and went absolutely rigid, allowing Ruby to examine his weapon with a single-minded intensity.

"This is so cool! I've never seen anything like it! The whole structure's really complex, but it looks like it still comes apart really easily. Oh! Can it be customized?! It looks like you're supposed to swap out features. What sort of attachments does it have?" she ranted and rambled, never waiting for an answer; not that she'd get one, given Alistair's state.

Renee snickered at her friend's plight. "Oh Alistair, you lucky dog." she said mockingly, getting a giggle out of Yang.

"Some guys have all the luck." the blond girl nodded, before turning back to Alistair. "As long as he keeps his hands off my sister, that is." she said ominously.

The blushing inventor turned his eyes to glance away from the blond as he responded. "A-As I said, I have n-no intention of courting _anyone_, y-your sister included." he said hurriedly.

The amethyst-eyed girl grinned wide at his stuttering response. "Of course. What was I worried about?" she reasoned. "I mean, why would he want to flirt with Rubes when he's got _me_ all to himself?" the girl asked, and Renee shrugged.

"It just wouldn't make any sense." she said as she joined in on the teasing.

Alistair was left unimpressed by their joking. "Hey, Ruby…" he said, managing to regain some composure and leaned in to talk quietly with the hooded girl.

The huntress-to-be perked up and turned to look at the male. "Yeah?"

"Would you like to see one of my weapon's features?" asked the young inventor stiffly, his brow twitching.

Ruby's eyes lit up like she just got an early birthday present. "Yes, please!" she said, nodding her head so rapidly that the male could have sworn he heard something snap.

The brunette smiled, though it was made more awkward by Yang's cuddling. "Well then…" he said, turning to the clingy blond girl.

"Yang." he beckoned, getting her attention.

"Hm?"

"High-five." he said, holding up his hand, much to the girl's confusion at the sudden, unexpected gesture.

"Uhh…" She hesitated for a moment as she eyed the limb unsurely, only to shrug a moment later. "Okay." the girl said with a grin as she slapped her palm against his armored gauntlet.

"No, wai-!"

"Grrrgghhh!"

Despite Renee's attempted warning, she suddenly fell to the ground much like the fox-girl had earlier, twitching and convulsing as though she had been hit by a stun gun, much to Ruby's confusion and surprise.

"Y-Yang!?" yelped the hooded girl in surprise.

Having been freed of his pillowy prison, Alistair sighed in relief. "D-Don't worry about her." he breathed out "The voltage was lowered to a non-combat mode."

"Oh." said the redhead with mixed relief and concern, leaning down to support her sister, who had stopped convulsing and managed to regain the majority of her faculties.

"Aww. Alistair, you're so cold to me." she whined, causing Renee to snort.

"It's not just you." she said, watching as the male backed away from the inert blond girl and stood next to Jaune, likely in case he needed to use the boy as a shield.

The blue-eyed male turned to his friend. "Okay, I give up." he said "What's your secret?"

Alistair glanced at him with a deadpan look. "If I knew, I can assure you I would have stopped long ago." he explained.

He then turned around and made for the door. "Now come along, we mustn't be late for the test, 'else our hard work getting to this point would be for naught." he prompted, beckoning his fellow hunters to follow.

"Uhh…" Yang spoke up, indicating her legs. "I can't walk."

The male glanced over to her briefly, before shrugging. "The numbness should fade before we arrive at the cliff." he said, then turned and left the room.

"Oh, well that's good to-" the girl paused "Wait, it _should_ fade?" she asked

The brunette didn't heed her question as he continued to walk away.

"A-Alistair?"

He simply started to whistle a little tune.

"Alistair!"

Ruby and Jaune sighed in unison as they made their way after the young inventor, the girl supporting her hobbling sister with her shoulders. "This is going to be a long year, isn't it?" asked the male, only for Renee to grin behind him.

"I certainly hope so."

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

**(1) I know that the people down at Roosterteeth aren't "professional" voice actors, so that's also a likely reason for her seemingly strange speech patterns; no judging the actress, she's probably better than I am.**

**That said, some of the things she says and the way she says them tends to indicate that she's a bit unfamiliar with the language, which I find a fun idea. I mean, she is from another kingdom, and it makes sense that not everyone would speak English as their native tongue, seeing as there's probably huge gaps of land between the kingdoms. I like the idea of Pyrrha speaking English as a second language, mainly because it seems like something that we don't see much in fanfic. **

**And that's a wrap! Whew!**

**Alright, so this chapter was a bit longer than I anticipated. I was originally going to make it chapter 3.5, but I managed to add on enough content to make it decent enough to call chapter 4. The problem, however, is that I added in a few scenes from the original show, which is one thing I want your opinion on; did I do it well enough for your taste? I tried to change it as best I could, but sometimes it can't be helped, and I'll need to add a scene from the show to help the story flow better or to explain something to people new to the series. This is just a heads up for the next couple chapters.**

**I mention this now because there's a bit of exposition in the emerald forest, as well as a few scenes establishing character interactions… So fans of the series will likely find yourselves rolling your eyes and saying "Jesus Christ, get to the original content you copy-pasting noob" or something of the like. I'll try to think up a system to tell you where original content starts and ends, just so you can skim over long stretches of cannon dialogue and know where you are without reading the whole thing.**

**Onto the next topic; pairings!**

**Now, as a general rule, I tend not to make any pairings with characters until the end the source material series, however since RWBY is **_**far**_** from being over, I'll make an exception, which is one of the many reasons I consider this fic set in an AU. **

**That said, I don't know anything about pairings yet. I'm mainly just making up character interactions as I go along, and since this fic doesn't focus too much on romantic aspects of life, neither do I. If I think a certain interaction would work between characters, then I put it in, and if that leads to a potential relationship, then it will, even if only for a while. **

**The way I see it, this not only makes the interactions more natural and organically developing, but it also saves me a bunch of planning in the long run, seeing as I would not only have to plan out what couples would work, but I also have to figure out how they would get to being a couple to start with. **

**I've seen plenty of fics where romantic interests are either rushed along and given no time to get acquainted with eachother, or the reasons they get together to begin with are sorta bullshit. And that's not even restricted to fanfiction, either. Ever watch a harem anime?**

**As much as I praise High school DxD for its fun and inventive world, the characters' motives are really two-dimensional and you can see that they're being put together just because the creator wants them together. The same thing goes for many fanfic where the creator likes a certain pairing and wants them together from the start; they end up just being put together, and they figure out **_**how**_** that happens along the way. **

**Well not with this fic sir and/or madam! I plan on having organic, natural, flowing relationships that advance over time!**

**It's totally not because I'm lazy and can't be asked to plan out the relationships! Honest!**

**That aside, though; f you want a more in-depth of the admittedly half-assed system that I go through when writing my fanfic, then just send me a pm and I can copy-paste something into your message box… maybe. Eh, I'll think about it later.**

**Now, onto a new segment! Featured fanfics!**

**In this segment, I'll be suggesting fiction to you, the readers, that I find intriguing, entertaining, hilarious, or just downright silly. I will present you with the fiction, the author, and a brief synopsis for each one that I read, though I will attempt to withhold any personal opinions, so as not to taint your own.**

**Let's start with one of the fics that I am currently in the process of writing now:**

**Crossed Fates****; Half experiment and half amusing distraction, Crossed Fates is a huge multi-crossover that starts off in the To Love-Ru cannon, and will eventually cross over with Omamori Himari. Beta read by SilverFoxSage**

**The story is centered around Mason Alexander, an alien mercenary from another galaxy who's on a mission to scout out a previously war-ravaged section of space that his employers have taken an interest in. However, it is revealed that, rather than being professional, intimidating and stoic, he's actually goofy, lazy, and childish, with a real hatred for authority… which becomes a problem when, after some botched paperwork, he lands himself in the position of a Japanese high school student!**

**Oh well, it's not all bad. At least he gets to take an extended vacation; he can work of the excess weight later, right?**

**Now, his only goal is to help ship his friend, Rito with that cute girl he keeps making googly-eyes at when she isn't looking. However, strange events just seem to be magnetized to him, and soon this simple lifestyle comes to an end when Rito, and himself by extent, are dragged into the affairs of a rebellious alien princess, who ends up mistakenly engaged to Rito. **

**Now Mason has to both protect his uncoordinated friend from alien assassins and somehow get him together with Haruna, all the while working to get stronger and reclaim his lost grandeur to face the numerous, ever-growing storms on the horizon, as threats suddenly make themselves known around every corner. **

**Alright! So with that out of the way, please leave me reviews telling me how I can improve.**

**What's your opinion on taking material straight out of the show? What sort of pairings would you like to see? What do you think of the "Featured Fics" segment? **

**Let me, and everyone else know in the reviews section!**

**In the meantime, I'll see you in the next chapter! Buh-bye now!**


	6. Falling Towards the Sky

From Ashes

Chapter 5: Falling Towards the Sky

**Welcome once again to From Ashes!**

**I'm sure a few of you might be wondering where I've been for the past few months… while the rest of you have been reading for a while and didn't really notice a difference in the update times. Anywho; I had a lot of personal things. Got a job that drained my energy and prevented me from eating well… basically I haven't had the energy to make fanfic and have only managed to get a little work done over the last couple months.**

**Of course, you can thank the good Mr. drake202 for helping me get back on track with all his ideas, and helping get my creative juices flowing working on my newest and most popular fic; Divinity and the Devil's luck! Or just Divinity for short. For those who don't know, check it out on my page, along with my other fanfics.**

**Anyways; I ran into a hitch with that particular story, and my brain, still hopped up on creativity and caffeine, latched onto RWBY. Seeing as the new season is coming out soon, I figure now is as good a time as any to really get to work with it and keep riding the hype train! So I figure we'll start up now.**

**So, sorry for the massive hiatus, but let's face it, you should be expecting this from me. So no harm done… right?**

**Right?**

**Please don't leave me!**

**For those of you who are still interested; over the next couple chapters, we introduce a few new characters and display their combat skills, along with some actual grimm fighting, finally! This means that you will see a lot of action and only a little exposition… relatively.**

**Nothing else to really be said here aside from "Thanks for reading."**

"Speech"

'_Thought/Reading'_

"Synthesized/Robotic Speech"

*Onomatopoeia* (sound effect)

**(Author's Note)**

**Xxxxxx Scene Change xxxxxx**

**xxxxxx **Scene Break

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any materials referenced here. RWBY is the property of Roosterteeth and the machinations of Monty Oum; rest his soul.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

The first-year students all lined up atop the cliff overlooking a massive green forest, each one stood upon their own metal platform like figurines stood on a collector's shelf, and before them paced Ozpin, with Glynda on his heels. As they walked, Glynda kept her eyes on the scroll in her hands while Ozpin was looking over the bright-eyed young huntsmen and huntresses through his bangs, which were tousled by the mid-afternoon breeze.

The silver-haired man was, as per the norm, the picture of calm and cool; still playing the part of a paradox, both kindly and intimidating, those dark orbs holding many secrets while simultaneously baring himself to the world for all to see. In contrast, the blond woman was prim and uptight, an unshakable pillar of order and power that refused to show weakness or wavering of any sort as she withheld even the most base emotions from view, sans the occasional annoyed glare. Both were as mysterious as they were doubtlessly powerful.

And Alistair knew that; he knew that the pair before him were unbelievably strong and that either one of them was capable of utterly destroying every other person present on the cliff simultaneously with barely an iota of effort... so naturally, he was bored.

The brown-haired teen lifted his right hand to his mouth and gave a loud yawn to indicate as much; something that obviously irked Glynda, if her brief glance as any indicator, though she remained quiet about it, likely because it wasn't worth the time or energy to tell him off. So the group just stood there, students and teachers silently watching each other.

Finally, after what had to be five full _minutes_ of boredom (Quite a while for a teenager), Ozpin stopped his pacing and began to speak.

"Every one of you here has spent years studying and practicing in order to become warriors; hunters who take up arms in the name of civilization and lay down their lives to protect people all across Remnant." he started. "And today, all of your abilities are to be evaluated here, in the emerald forest." the man said, gesturing towards the massive expanse of green before them. He then allowed his assistant to pick up the explanation as he took a sip of his mug.

"There have been many rumors about team selections." Glynda said, adjusting her glasses. "Allow me to put an end to them here; Each of you will be given teammates. Today." When she said that, it was with an air of finality that left no room for arguments.

"These teammates will be with you throughout your stay here at Beacon, so it is within your best interests to be paired with someone you can work with." the woman continued to explain. "That said; the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

A large teen to the far right of Alistair snickered. "Sounds legit."

Glynda turned to the male with a stern glare, but Ozpin held out an arm to stop her from talking, a mildly amused smirk on his face.

Regardless, he began to speak again as the lady professor crossed her arms indignantly and began to shoot dirty looks at the large teen. "After you've paired up, you are to make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

At that declaration, a wicked grin split the face of the mouthy youth to Alistair's right, though the inventor himself remained unfazed, simply adjusting his gauntlet and the goggles around his eyes. He tuned out the rest of the speech the man was making in favor of making said adjustments, as monitored by the goggles. Text flashed through his vision.

'_Dust reserves at 100% capacity._

_Armor condition 100%_

_Lightning generator warmup at 90%_

_Electrical amplifier on standby…'_

As the blocky lettering and numerals scrawled across the screen, a small, satisfied smirk crept onto his lips. _'The systems are all functioning nominally.'_ he commented to himself _'I do hope it stays that way.'_

"Are there any questions?" he heard Ozpin ask, his voice pulling the young inventor back into reality.

"Uhm… yeah." Jaune started.

The headmaster either didn't hear him or was disregarding him. "Good. Now take your positions." he said, and everyone readied themselves for… something.

Alistair held up his left arm and began to toy with a small holographic pad on his wrist. _'Jump-jets warming up.'_ his heads-up-display read out across the bottom of his goggles. He laughed lightly to himself and extended the claws on his left hand once more, holding it lazily at his side.

Beside him, the big man gave an unnerving chuckle as he unhooked his massive, serrated greatsword and swung it back behind him in a ready position. "Oh, this'll be fun."

Jaune continued to try and garner the headmaster's attention. "Um, excuse me… sir. I have a question."

Suddenly, one of the students on the far end of the cliff was sent flying by the metal platform he was stood on, which it seems was actually a spring pad.

"About this whole… landing strategy thing; you're, like- what- dropping us off or something?" he asked, either oblivious or in denial of his fellow first-years being flung out across the forest.

"No. You will be falling." Ozpin said simply, and as though to punctuate his words, Renee was thrown by one of the catapults.

"Yahoo!" she cried, flipping acrobatically in the air as she pulled her hook blades from their place on her back.

"Oh, I see… so did you hand out parachutes for us?" Jaune asked, growing more nervous by the second.

Another pad went off, this time flinging the small cloaked figure Alistair had met earlier that day, who simply remained passive to the whole ordeal, not even attempting to change their trajectory. It looked almost like someone had tossed a football (American, not British).

"No." the man repeated "You will be providing your own landing strategy."

"Oh, I- uhh… I see." Jaune said weakly. "So, what exactly is a landing strate-"

*Clunk!* *Whoosh!*

"Giiiiieeeeeeeee!"

And like that, he was gone.

Alistair looked on in amusement at his friend's plight. "_Do_ watch that first step!" he called out after him, watching as the large man at his side was flung.

"Hahahahaha!" he cackled madly.

Finally, it was Alistair's turn, and he found himself promptly thrown up diagonally, into the sky where his face was met by a wall of wind and the sound of excited cries from some of his fellow classmates… sans Jaune, who was screaming like a little girl on a rollercoaster.

Speaking of whom; Alistair looked over to the left and saw the boy tumbling through the air, only to be snagged out of the sky as a familiar red and bronze spear hurled past him, catching the hood of his sweater. Again, he screamed as he flew, though he stopped upon hitting a tree.

*Thunk* *Twannngggg*

"Thank you!" his voice called out.

"I'm sorry!" shouted Pyrrha in reply.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire rang out through the sky, grabbing Alistair's attention and causing him to glance slightly further ahead of him, where Yang, now sporting a pair of amber-colored aviators, was using her bright yellow shot-gauntlets to propel herself through the air. She turned back towards him and they caught each other's gaze, so the blond lowered her shades and gave him a sly wink, before shooting off in front of him.

The grey-eyed male smirked _'Oh; it's a race she seeks?'_ he then glanced at his H.U.D.

'_Jump-jet at 98% charge'_

"Alright then." he said, before reaching up to his arm and pressing a button on the holographic screen.

*Bam! Whoosh!*

A vent opened on the back of his shoulder pad and began to expel a jet of scarlet flames with a loud noise that surprised those around and below him. Most of all, Yang could only gawp as he flew past her like a rocket, though this shock only lasted for a moment before she pushed her aviators up her nose and gave a wide grin.

"It's on now!" she cried over the wind and the roar of Alistair's jets, before adding the sound of gunfire to the cacophony as she fired off her gauntlets again, catching up to the young inventor in a few bursts of speed. It seemed as though neither of them was quite sure what the actual objective was aside from making it farther than the other before hitting the ground, but that was good enough for them as they continued to paint the sky with streaks of red and bursts of gold.

Alistair was overtaken within moments, but that only lasted a second before Yang fell behind again between shotgun bursts, incapable of keeping up with his consistent pace. They continued this way for a while in something akin to a game of hopscotch miles above the forest canopy, with the wind whipping through their hair and the fire Dust leaving behind pockets of heated air as they flew.

"Woohoo!" shouted Yang as she flew over the young inventor again with an explosion of kinetic energy. "I'll meet you at the finish line!"

Alistair smirked "That you shall! I'll have some tea made by the time you arrive!" he quipped back, flexing his fingers over the console on his wrist.

'_Activating full-burn.'_

With that; the jet on his back dilated like an iris, intensifying the flame and thrusting him forward with immense speed, causing him to take off like a rocket towards the northern end of the forest.

"Woah!" Yang cried out in surprise as she was overtaken and then bypassed entirely; the young male flashing her a peace sign as he flew overhead. "Hey! That has to be cheating!"

The brown-haired teen just grinned. "I don't recall setting ground rules!"

'_Jet charge at 20%; shutting off full-burn'_

"Wha- oh." Alistair grunted as he allowed the jet to decrease back to normal levels. "I suppose that I used a bit too much with that-"

'_Malfunction; critical failure. Deactivating jump jets to prevent meltdown.'_

"Oh dear…"

**Xxxxxx **

Ozpin took another sip from his coffee as the crimson streak suddenly cut out, and a black dot fell from the sky in the distance.

"Not again!" they could hear Alistair's voice cry out, followed by what could have been a feminine cackle.

Glynda turned to her employer with a sigh. "_This_ is the next generation of huntsmen?" she asked with a deadpan look.

"Well… they _are_ energetic." replied the man stoically, taking another sip of his beverage.

**Xxxxxx With Renee** **xxxxxx **

The fox-girl lashed out with her hook blade, the curved weapon digging into the branch of a tree and allowing her to swing down like a gymnast, carving a deep rut along it in a ring around its circumference as she did. Releasing the branch, she went flying off it, did a flip mid-air for style points, and landed gracefully on her feet a short distance away from the tree.

"Oh yeah. I'm awesome." she said with a grin, walking away from the tree while tucking her weapon away on her back.

"Now which way am I-" Suddenly, she found her instincts screaming out at her.

Following them, she dodged out of the way as a massive black boar charged out of the surrounding brush, coming up behind her, only to narrowly miss as the girl hopped slightly to her left. The thing was about the size of a minivan with a white, boney mask on its face, from which descended a pair of saber-like fangs and curly tusks. Several sets of similarly bony plates ran down its back, with spikes of the same material protruding from the gaps between to make a long row of razors along its body on the sides and back.

Four, blood-red eyes glared out with a savage hunger and daemonic glow as it stared down its supposed prey item, not knowing –or caring about- the danger it just unwittingly put itself in.

Renee shot the thing a deadpan look. "Which way am I going to kick your porky ass on my way to the temple ruins?" she asked as she once more withdrew her blades, twirling them around almost casually.

The beast snorted, expelling steam from its nostrils before it charged her again. Of course, she leapt over it and twirled in the air so that she was facing the beast, where she aimed her weapons' gun barrels down as it passed under her.

As Renee fired down at the boarlike grimm, bolts of white light struck the armored shell of boney plates that lined its back, though it seemed that the shots were rendered useless against the armor.

This barely seemed to bother the girl, though she did sigh in exasperation as it crashed into the tree she'd just fallen from, palming her forehead at her own forgetfulness. "Right, of course the thing's got armor. It's a boarbatusk." she muttered, only to witness as the branch she'd swung from, having been worn and weakened by her blade, was knocked loose and fell onto the demon's body, crushing it beneath its girth.

The huntress stood there for a moment, watching as its body dissolved into smoke, leaving the perplexed huntress alone in the clearing. "Well then… lucky for me it wasn't too smart." she muttered, turning around and walking away, though she kept her weapons drawn.

One never could be too careful in grimm territory.

**Xxxxxx With Ren xxxxxx**

The green-clad teen landed rather easily, using a similar tactic to Renee, though he rode down the tree's trunk in a corkscrew pattern.

His own weapons resembled a pair of green handguns with backwards-facing blades descending from beneath the barrels, a reversal of the typical bayonet.

He stood up straight and flicked his wrists, allowing the guns to fold up and recede into his sleeves. He then brushed himself off to remove the dirt from his shirt, only to glance up as he heard a scream.

"Not again!"

He watched as Alistair flew through the air above him like a graceful, screaming, smoking bird, only to cringe as he heard the cracking of tree limbs and the screeching of crows as he likely broke through the canopy.

That was swiftly followed by the laughter of the blond girl he'd been competing with. "Hahaha! That's a sign Alistair! Cheaters never win!"

"Huh…" Ren looked perplexed for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head as he walked away. "I don't even want to know." 

**Xxxxxx With Ruby xxxxxx **

"Birdie no!"

*Crunch!*

Ruby was momentarily distraught as she hit an airborne crow on her way down, having taken slightly longer to descend due to the recoil of her rifle carrying her a good distance forward, ahead of the majority of her classmates, excluding perhaps the currently-soaring Alistair.

"Hahaha!" she was surprised when another voice rang out behind her, which she promptly turned towards only to see a peculiarly large teen with a serrated sword and a vicious grin.

He swung his blade as he descended towards the forest floor, cleaving the top off a tree and kicking his feet out forward. He used said tree to shield himself from the cutting branches of the canopy as they flew past, as well as a surfboard of sorts, which he rode for a good distance after he hit the ground, as could be seen by the gout of dust and fallen trees he left in his wake.

Ruby could only watch in bewildered confusion for a moment, but was brought back into reality upon realizing that the ground was swiftly rising up to meet her as well.

"Oh no!" she squawked, repositioning her scythe so that it was below her. The rifle fire that followed slowed her descent considerably, leaving her in a position where she was easily able to hook her weapon's blade around the branch of a tree and swing down.

Descending to the ground, the young teen slid to a stop in a small clearing, only to hear the whooshing of air as several others caught up to her and flew overhead. She disregarded it, however, and instead went sprinting through the forest at top speeds, her mind going a mile a minute.

'_Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang, gotta find-"_ "Yang!"

Ruby started calling for her sister as she rushed about the forest, looking around for the blond girl in a desperate attempt to avoid being paired up with a stranger. _'Oh, this is not good. What if I can't find her before someone else does?'_ she wondered to herself _'I mean; she says that I have to socialize, but what if I end up with a complete jerk!?'_

She sighed to herself. _'Seriously, what sort of options do I have?' _

Suddenly, the image of Jaune helping her up in the Beacon courtyard came to mind. _'Well, there's always Jaune; he seems funny. We'd definitely get along.'_ that thought was squashed moments later, when she imagined him being torn apart by wolves. _'Yeah… maybe he wouldn't be so good in a fight.'_

She shook her head to clear those dark images. _'Alright. Well what about Blake? She seems nice enough.'_ she reasoned _'So mysterious, so calm… We both like books too, so there's some common ground.'_ Suddenly, though, another thought occurred to her, this one taking the form of herself chatting up a storm to the sombre girl, only for the ravenette to inch away from her with an annoyed look on her face. _'Then again, she isn't much of a conversationalist. So maybe not.'_

Her thoughts then drifted towards the other friend she made the prior day. _'Well… there's always Alistair. I mean he's a good guy too…'_ she hummed _'And he could probably handle himself in a fight.'_ she mused, the image of the boy surrounded by beowolves. Unlike Jaune, however, the imaginary Alistair swung his arms around himself faster than the eye could see, and as a result the grimm fell apart into confetti in a very cartoonish manner.

Though after a moment of consideration, she frowned. _'But, something seems a bit…'_

*whoosh!* "Not again!"

'…_off about him.'_

"Hahaha! That's a sign Alistair! Cheaters never win!" called Yang's voice from somewhere off in the opposite direction.

"Yang!" shouted Ruby in joyful surprise, turning towards the source of the voice in order to find her sister.

She ran as fast as she could, reducing the forest around her to a senseless blur; a pallet of greens, browns, and the occasional blue as the sky shone through the canopy.

'_Okay. So who else do I know in this school?'_ she asked herself. _'I have Yang, Jaune, Blake, Alistair, and…'_

At her speed and with her being lost in thought, the girl almost didn't notice when a splash of white appeared before her amidst the blur of green, with a suddenness that had her digging her heels into the ground to stop her momentum.

Screeching to a halt, she nearly lost balance and ended up pitching forward, her arms flailing to keep herself standing. It took her a second to right herself, but when she did, her gaze met the sharp, icy blue of another girl about her age.

She was looking at none other than Weiss Schnee.

Silently, they stood in place, staring into each other's eyes with unreadable expressions as each girl tried to process the sudden and unexpected appearance of the other.

Ruby blinked.

Weiss did the same.

As she registered the situation, a tentative smile crossed Ruby's face. _'Well… maybe this won't be so-'_

Weiss promptly turned on her heel and marched in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Wait!" called Ruby. "Where are you going!?"

When she received no response, the younger girl sighed and slumped to her knees. "We're supposed to be partners…" she muttered hopelessly, staring sullenly at the grass beneath her.

Weiss just marched away, leaving her alone in the forest again.

**Xxxxxx With Alistair xxxxxx **

The young inventor tumbled through the trees on his way to the ground, leaving a spiralling trail of smoke in his wake. "Ow! Ow! Oh, bollocks to this!" he exclaimed, before activating his semblance. His eyes glowed grey as his pupils narrowed to pinpricks.

The world slowed to a crawl around him, and took on a greyish hue as everything came into focus; every dust particle and floating pollen spore seemed to freeze and form a wall of sparkling white lights, but then fell away into obscurity. Before him, a tree came into view and his eyes immediately locked onto it, the colour returning to it and then intensifying, becoming more vibrant and rich than it normally would be, standing out amidst the field of grey. Looking at it, he could see every detail about it; every crack or dip in the bark, every vein in every leaf, and every ant crawling along its surface. Every aspect of the plant was burned into his retina in that one instant.

In real time, it looked as though he quickly recovered at the very last second before hitting the trunk, spinning his body so that his feet would meet the tree, and thus allowing him to kick off it, and onto the next. As he did so, he flung his left arm out to the side, where his claws extended once more, this time falling down to his finger tips to form a series of long talons, which then hooked into the next tree and allowed him to redirect his momentum, circling it once and flinging himself towards the next plant diagonally. This time his fall was far more controlled and his descent was slowed considerably, allowing him to land with his feet against another tree, though rather than spring away again, he swung his metallic claws into the side of the trunk and slid down, leaving four trenches in the bark. With one last kick, he leapt off the tree and landed on his feet.

He deactivated his semblance as he landed, his feet resting in the soft earth of the forest floor and his weapon's claws retracting back into their places on the back of his hand. He then began to saunter forward at a leisurely pace, pulling the goggles away from his face so he could see more clearly. "Initial field test completed." he muttered "Time for the second to begin."

Almost as soon as he said that, a lycanthrope grimm leapt from the surrounding forest and attempted to strike him in the back when it thought he wasn't expecting it. _'Unfortunately for you; I'm always expecting it.'_ the young teen quipped, spinning around with his arms extended.

His right arm swung out and smacked the beast's paw away from him, causing it to stumble past him and over extend its reach. It didn't get far, as he grabbed its shoulder and pulled it back just as his left hand was coming forward, claws extended once more.

He drove the metal spikes into the thing's back in the exact same place it had been aiming for with its surprise attack, then pulled the grimm back to look him in the eye, driving the claws in deeper. "Stupid beast." he scoffed "Did you think to ambush me?"

The male saw nothing in those blood-red eyes beyond simple hunger and a void where the spark of life should have been. "Hmph." he snorted "You don't even understand me; you are naught but a mindless _thing_…" he spat the last word, before letting out a soft sigh. "How disappointing."

Without another word, electricity began to pulse through his gauntlet and into the beast's body, frying it. Electrical charges went up and down every limb, causing it to twitch and convulse rapidly and uncontrollably, with muffled gurgling sounds escaping its mouth accompanied by copious amounts of black steam, which soon began rising from its eyes as well. By the time the engineer was finished, the smell of burnt hair and blood permeated the clearing and the smouldering corpse of the beast was left twitching and charred in the grass, though it was quickly fading away.

Alistair stood straight and his nose curled at the scent. "Repulsive" he muttered.

He then went about retracting and extending the claws a few times to test their post-combat functionality. "It would seem I need to increase the output." he said to himself "I took far too long to kill it."

In the excitement, Alistair's hair had fallen forward in a messy mane that covered his eyes in shadow, likely as a result of the electricity, so he took a moment to smooth it back with his right hand as the last sparks dispersed from his left. Another sigh escaped his lips as a mild scowl slowly left his face, returning it to a neutral expression.

After taking a moment to breathe deeply, he turned on his heel and began a northward march; seemingly unaware of the dark shapes nestled in the forest just beyond the edges of his perception.

**Xxxxxx Somewhere in the Forest xxxxxx **

A tall, armor-clad teen strutted about the woods with his head held high and a cocky smirk on his face.

He had a burnt orange fauxhawk, purple eyes, and a tanned complexion, though the majority of his body was covered in a huge suit of what looked like steel plate mail with golden trim around each plate and the image of a bird in silhouette on his chest in brass. The plates were worn over a black shirt with a popped collar and red trim, with a matching set of pants and a red sash around this waist.

He wandered for a bit, likely searching for someone to play the part of his partner. _'Whoever he is better not be some jackass.'_ thought the teen. _'And he better not be some damn scrawny wimp either. I didn't spend the last eight years at school just to pick up the slack for some nerd who can't hold his own in a fight.'_

The arrogant teen began to wander even deeper into the forest as he continued to rant to himself inside his own mind. _'Wait… which way is north again?'_ he asked, humming as he looked around for discernable features that might help him figure out his direction of travel. "Let's see… the sun sets in the south, right?"

He shook his head in frustration. "Dammit! C'mon; I'm a Winchester! Gramps managed to navigate his way through the woods every week, he has to have passed down _some_ of that know-how to me!"

He was stopped in the middle of his contemplations as he heard something that caught his attention; the sound of trees falling not far away.

Naturally assuming that the cause was a fight of some sort, he swiftly turned and made his way towards-

"Oh shit!"

He suddenly had to dive out of the way as a huge, black, bearlike creature flew from the woods, its body lined with boney plates and spikey protrusions, much like the boarbatusk.

Poking his head out of the bush he's ended up in, the boy scowled and turned to face the direction from which the creature had been flung. "You son of…a…" he trailed off into a muttering, rambling mess when he witnessed exactly what had been wrought on the forest clearing before him.

The swiftly-dissolving corpses of over a dozen grimm lay scattered about, the horde having been rent apart in ways that could only be done by something akin to a giant hacksaw, leaving shredded limbs and broken bone fragments lying about. Numerous trees had been upended; either torn up by their roots or knocked down by an impact that broke the trunk. Standing amidst the carnage was the image of a humanoid figure, about the size of an average adult male, though what was completely un-average about it was the fact that it held the upper half of a large beowolf by its throat in one hand, and the lower half by the ankle.

With a swift motion, the person pulled the creature apart, the sound of tearing and cracking accompanying the motion, then he flung the severed halves across the clearing where they impacted two separate trees. The man disregarded them, however, in favor of turning to face the source of the sound… only to find the space empty.

The armoured teen crouched in the bush where he was hiding, his hands on his mouth. _'Nope.'_ he thought to himself _'nope-nope-nope-nope…'_

Chanting his mental mantra, the metal-clad male crawled away on his hands and knees.

The tall man would have pursued, had another bear-beast not attempted to ambush him, only for him to grab its arms and begin to grapple with it. "Hahaha!"

**Xxxxxx Back on Beacon Cliff xxxxxx **

"Oh dear…" Glynda said with a sigh.

Ozpin turned to her with a raised brow, where he noticed her looking down at her holographic scroll. "Hm?" he grunted questioningly.

The woman shook her head. "Yet another student has bypassed Mr. Greenhill. It would seem he's going to have trouble finding a partner." she said with a frown. She looked up to Ozpin as though about to say something else, but he was quicker to the draw, and ended up cutting her off.

"It would seem he isn't the only one having trouble with partners." the man said.

Glynda looked over his shoulder to see that he too was looking into a scroll, this one depicting Weiss Schnee trudging through the forest.

**Xxxxxx With Weiss xxxxxx**

The girl scowled as she pushed past a thick branch. _'It was an accident.'_ she reasoned

'_A mistake! I call a mulligan!'_ she continued to rant _'There's no way I could work with a dunce like that! Plus, our eyes didn't meet; I was looking at her nose.'_

She was so deep in her bitter contemplation that she didn't watch where she was going, and as a result her dress caught on a bit of brush, almost tripping her up, but she caught herself before she fell. The girl turned and yanked herself free of the foliage, checking to see that her skirt wasn't ripped or otherwise damaged, though considering it was clearly made for combat, it would stand to reason that a bush wouldn't be enough to ruin it. That, however, did not protect her when she turned around and walked face first into a tree branch, causing her to reel back in surprise.

"Ow!" she hissed. "Stupid thing…"

Her attention was drawn upwards when she noticed something flailing about above her; or rather someone, as it turned out to be the boy who had been pestering her just that morning; Jaune Arc. It seemed that he was still pinned to a tree by his hood thanks to Pyrrha's earlier save, the bronze and red spear having been lodged in the tree behind him, hanging him there like a coat on a rack.

He kicked against the tree, jerking on the weapon with his gloved hands in an attempt to pry it loose and free himself, but to no avail. It was lodged there and wasn't coming loose any time soon.

Weiss looked up at him with a frown. _'There's no way I can get out of two partnerships in a row.'_ she reasoned, briefly pondering her options. _'So I have to wonder which is worse… the clumsy dunce or this idiot.'_

It was then that Jaune noticed her, and looked down. He waved and laughed lamely "Eheheheh…"

Without a word, Weiss once more turned on her heel and left back the way she came. _'Lesser of two evils it is then.'_

"This doesn't make us friends." the white-haired girl griped as she passed Ruby, grabbing her by her hood and dragging her away with her.

The hooded girl, it seemed, was too overjoyed to be put off by that comment. "You came back!" she cheered.

Meanwhile, Jaune could see the interaction from his vantage point in the tree. "H-Hey! Wait!" he cried "Could you at least let me down from here?!"

His cries seemed to fall on deaf ears, however, as the duo continued on their way.

"Jaune?" called up the familiar voice of Pyrrha, beckoning him to look down as the girl addressed him. "Do you have any more room on your team?" she asked him jokingly, a small smile playing across her features.

"Very funny." the blond boy huffed, turning away with crossed arms.

They both turned to look at each other, and Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah… I might." he said with an awkward chuckle, causing Pyrrha to laugh into her hand.

**Xxxxxx With Alistair xxxxxx **

The teen hummed some sort of lilting tune under his breath as he casually sauntered towards the northern end of the forest where the ruins were supposedly located, tinkering with his weapon the whole while. The claws extended and retracted at random, and various separate plates moved and shifted along the shoulder and chest piece as he tested the various mechanics within his creation, as monitored by the holographic screen on his forearm.

As he meandered along, he seemed to be ignorant of a beastly shadow following from the forest at his back…

*Grrrr…*

That is to say, until it growled loudly.

Alistair simply sighed. "You realize that an ambush requires the element of surprise to be maintained, correct?" he chastised the beast, which stepped forth from the bush behind him, revealing another one of the bearlike grimm.

'_An ursa, huh?'_ he asked himself, but paused when he noticed something odd about it. _'It seems a bit… small.'_

Indeed, the beast was small; it was no larger than a common dog, clearly smaller than any other examples of ursa, which seemed to typically be about the size of the average bear or larger. This one seemed small enough that a common handgun could down it if used properly, hardly a challenge for a hunter, even one in training.

Glaring at him, the beast roared in what seemed to be a challenge.

"Your ambush failed so you want a head-on fight. Is that it?" asked the teen.

In response to the challenge, he turned to face it side-on with a calm expression and wide stance, his left hand held at chest level in front of him with the palm facing towards the enemy, and his right hand held close to his torso at the same level. "well, it's not that hiding would have done you much good, seeing as I have been aware of you tracking me since I landed in the forest." he gloated with a superior smirk aimed at the thing across from him.

It didn't hesitate in attacking him, launching a claw strike at his head with a roar.

Alistair's eyes narrowed and his smirk grew even more arrogant. _'Wrong move.'_ With that one thought, he caught the beast's left paw in his grasp and stepped behind it, twisting the limb backwards. Then, his own left arm crackled with electricity, causing a loud crack to resonate through the clearing and making the beast stumble and trip with the force of the shock.

The grey-eyed teen wasn't done yet, however, and used his grip on its arm and the thing's surprise to spin it around so that it was facing back the way it came, before bringing his right arm forward in a corkscrew punch that impacted its back as he released it. A pulse of energy flashed in the fist that warped the air around it and sent the beast tumbling forward across the clearing, leaving it on its back amidst a cloud of smoke emanating from its body.

Alistair sighed and brushed off his sleeve. "Another disappointment." he said "Such a pitiful specimen couldn't-" he paused, however, when the beast slowly stumbled to its feet.

The young engineer looked at the monster with a quirked brow. "Or perhaps…"

*Graaahh!*

The beast suddenly roared, and a shock ran up Alistair's spine and limbs, causing his semblance to flare up instinctively. Once more the world faded to grey and everything came into focus around him.

His neck prickled as something caught his attention; the pungent and familiar blend of musk and blood permeating the air from every side. His attention diverted to either side of him and he caught glimpses of dark shapes baring down with bloody red glares trained on him, narrowed in concentration with the hunger of starving predators burning in them. For a moment, panic flashed in Alistair's eyes as he realized his predicament; two large beasts of grimm were closing in on either side of him and fast! If he didn't do something that instant, they would tear into his body without hesitation.

His panic, however, lasted a brief instant before his gaze turned cold and focused once more.

Swift as he could muster, his arms flew into motion and met the beasts' claws, at which point his body rotated three-hundred-sixty degrees while the limbs swatted away his attackers, making them stumble forward on either side of him. _'A second ursa.'_ he noted, taking stock of the creature that attacked from his left, before rotating further to see yet another bear-beast that attacked his right _'make that three.' _

He was surprised, however, when he noticed that the one that came from the left was sent tumbling into a fourth bearlike grimm, which had attempted to charge him from behind, knocking it to the side, and leaving them to tumble to the ground in a heap. "Distracting me for an ambush on all sides?" the teen muttered in mild shock, turning back to the lead ursa. "Perhaps I was too quick to dismiss you on size alone." he said, a small smirk forming on his face. "Let us put your mind to the test, then."

Alistair then launched himself at the lead ursa, which let out another bellow to call its larger cousins to its side, and in an instant, Alistair was once more set upon by one of the common ursa, though it took the other two a moment to recover from their tangled pile, leaving the young teen all the room he needed to leap backwards. Avoiding the attack, he readied himself for a follow up, and was rewarded when he sidestepped a swipe that would have otherwise hit him in the chest.

The monster swung at him continuously, flailing with both its thick paws in a flurry of uncoordinated swipes, but through it all Alistair remained calm, stepping backwards and tilting his torso back and forth to avoid the pitifully slow attacks. Occasionally he would even slap the creature's swinging arms to send the claws into the ground, causing it to stumble.

It was apparent that he was toying with the beast for the most part, keeping his eyes locked with its own. _'How curious…'_

He smirked. "You have no tact, demon." he scoffed at his opponent, before turning to the dwarf ursa. It was just standing there, staring at him as he fought off the beast before him "What sort of pitiful thing are you? Using your less-intelligent allies as a shield?"

This teasing lasted all of ten seconds, until the two others joined the conflict, and suddenly it was the young inventor on the backfoot, now more actively trying to avoid the series of assaults with a scowl. _'Oh; Blast and damn it all!'_ he cursed himself _'I shouldn't have let my curiosity get the best of me. Should have killed the one while I was fighting it alone and gone for the leader.'_ He scowled as he berated his own lack of common sense, not that he could do much about it at present, as he was forced to retreat backwards under the assault, with the three monsters advancing on him every step, and their leader following the battle from afar.

His dour expression began to fade, however, as the two of them moved to either side of the first ursa, swinging down on his head in unison, only to stumble as they ended up getting in each other's way. He found himself chuckling slightly as he internally dubbed over them with the voices of an old comedy trio he once watched on an old VCR tape.

"Come now lads; three on one is hardly sporting." he said as one ursa swung at him, only for him to smack away its paw and hit the one beside it in the face, causing it to fall backwards from the surprise. He then swiftly struck the first ursa in the chest with his left palm, delivering a lightning strike that dropped it as well, though he had to leap as the final ursa swiped at his legs.

Having leapt over the clawed appendage, Alistair was positioned over the beast at a perfect angle to kick it in the face with both feet, resulting in it falling over, much like the other two and allowing Alistair to use it as a spring pad to get some distance from the foes.

He slid to a stop several meters away as the grimm rolled over to stand once more, each one shaking their heads to clear them. By the time they were staring at him again, the potential huntsman was facing them side-on once more, though this time his left hand was held against his chest, and the symbol thereon split into four sections and slid open, revealing a small coil of wire within, radiating yellow light.

"Let us even the odds, then." he said, with a dark smirk.

Said coil began to spark and crackle as electricity jumped from his hand into it, where the energy was greedily absorbed by the wire, like a leech with its hooks deep in a cow, drinking from a particularly thick artery. With that drinking, his shoulder pad began to crackle and thrum with energy; shuddering and vibrating violently, with a thin line of smoke escaping the seams, likely from a machine hidden beneath. The symbol on his chest then slid closed once more, but the left arm was still crackling with electricity, the air around it growing visibly charged. Then he flung his left arm forward, hand held straight out in a knife-gesture.

Thunder cracked and the clearing grew dark as a bolt of lightning leapt from his fingertips, arcing out towards the ursa where it struck it in the middle of its chest, sending it into a seizure before leaping towards the next beast, then to the next. Each one dropped like a fly until only Alistair and the "lead" ursa were left alone in the clearing, with three smoking corpses laying between them, the foremost of which was left with a charred crater in its chest.

Alistair circled around the side of the scattered bodies. "Now it's just you and I, my friend." the teen said with a smirk.

The ursa mirrored him, pacing around the bodies in the opposite direction as it let out a low, rumbling growl.

They stared each other down over the steaming corpses of the fallen grimm, each one glaring at the other in turn. This continued for several moments, until the last of the beasts' corpses dissolved into the wind, leaving a swiftly-fading stream of fine black powder that disappeared moments later.

Once the last vestiges of its allies faded, the bear grimm reared up on its hind legs, to roughly the size of a grown man, and it let loose a roar.

In response, Alistair scoffed loudly. "Have at it then!" cried the young man, his body bristling with residual electricity.

The beast then rushed at him and he extended his claws 'till they protruded from his knuckles, sparks arcing between them. The male pulled back his fist and waited for the grimm to strike.

It drew closer and closer, running full-tilt on all four legs, slavering and snarling like the feral beast it was. Then, the teen threw forward his fist, sheathed in lightning, and the force behind it left a crack of thunder resonating through the forest…

Yet it met nothing.

Alistair blinked in confusion, his "super punch" having distorted the air in front of him to the point he couldn't see the target just as it got close, but that was only for a brief moment and when it faded, he couldn't see the creature.

"Wha-?" He turned to each side, searching the clearing for the beast, his brain working a mile a minute and his semblance flaring up once more. Luckily for him, he managed to shake off his confusion in time to hear the bushes rustling behind him, but when he whipped around, he found the beast fleeing from him, into the forest.

The boy paused for a moment, staring at the creature's retreating form. "Huh?" he grunted unintelligently, before blinking a few times.

"Wait a tic…" he said, twitching a moment. "Hey!" he shouted as he realized what had just happened "Get back here and face me, swine!"

He then took off after the beast with all the speed he could gather.

**Xxxxxx With Ruby and Weiss xxxxxx **

"Hey, what's the hurry?" asked Ruby as she and Weiss marched forward, the pale teen moving at a brisk pace as the cloaked girl trailed slightly behind.

Without so much as a backward glance, Weiss responded. "I will not let _my_ mission be delayed because you're too slow." she huffed out. "I swear; I had better not get a bad grade because of your-"

*Whoosh!*

"What the-!?" the heiress cried out in shock as she stumbled back.

Ruby had suddenly appeared out of nowhere right in front of her, as though appearing between frames in a movie. "I'm not slow; see?" said the energetic girl.

"I- What? When did-?" the blue-eyed teen stammered as her head quickly darted between the redhead and the place she had previously occupied, completely baffled.

"Weiss, just because I don't really know how to deal with people doesn't mean I can't deal with monsters." the red-clad girl explained. She then darted up next to the white-haired teen and draped an arm over her shoulder. "And when this is all done, you're going to be saying 'Wow, that Ruby girl is really, really cool… and I wanna be her friend.'"

After that boast, she then disappeared in a cloud of rose petals, leaving her partner alone in the forest clearing.

Weiss just sighed as she brushed aside the ethereal petals. "You may be fast, but all you're proving is that you still excel at wasting time!" she called out into the forest.

*Rustle, rustle*

The shaking of flora was all the response she got as the wind blew about in the surrounding bushes.

"Ruby?" called the pale heiress.

*Rustle, rustle*

There was still no response, and a cold chill ran up Weiss' spine. "R-Ruby?" she asked, a sense of unease creeping into her voice.

*Grrrr*

A low growl rumbled out of the forest as a pair of red eyes shone out of the woods, then another, and another. Soon, red lights peered out of every branch and every fern in the forest around her, revealing that she was surrounded by grimm.

Having been noticed, one such beast stepped out of the bruch in front of her; a beowolf from the looks of it, hobbling like an ape on two legs.

"Ruby!" cried Weiss as she reached to her hip.

*Grraahh!*

**Xxxxxx With Renee xxxxxx **

The young con-artist flipped over yet another boarlike beast as it attempted to mow her down, this one only slightly larger than her previous opponent, and flanked by two others.

"Tsk." she hissed in annoyance. "Is it too much to ask that I'm left alone for- like- five minutes? All this fighting's gonna ruin my nails!" she huffed with a pout.

Her only response was an assault from behind as an ursa attempted the grimm equivalent of a back-stab; clumsily running at the opponent and trying to rip them apart, while making as much noise as it possibly could.

That said; the results were about what one could expect, in that the girl simply leapt up, flipping over the beast and letting its attempted lunge go straight under her, resulting in a mouthful of dirt for its efforts. Meanwhile, the young huntress landed a few feet away on her feet, sighing in exasperation. "Guess not."

With that, she drew the blades from her back and held them at her sides, ready for combat with the group before her.

One of the boarbatusks was the first to act, though rather than charging her again, it chose to curl up in a ball like a hedgehog, leaving only its armoured back and spines open to the world. While this would seem like a coward's move, it was soon revealed that the thing was somehow able to rotate its body like a tire, and began moving forward with immense speeds, leaving a deep rut in the dirt behind it.

Of course, this was nothing to the huntress, who simply did a summersault to nimbly evade the beast's charge, before opening fire on the other two pig-monsters, which had attempted to ram her with their tusks in the typical manner. They veered off course, rushing past her on each side as they took a hail of kinetic dust to the faces, but the lean girl still had to dodge away as the first assailant, who had somehow managed to see her dodge while spinning, came around for another pass.

Still, all three beasts missed their attempted strikes, only for the ursa to once more rush in for an attack. Needless to say, however, it was fruitless, as Renee simply danced away from each strike.

"Oh, I've had enough of you." she said with a frown, before leaping up above it. When she came down, the girl hooked one of her weapons around its right foreleg and swung under it, looping around the limb with the curved blade embedded in the flesh. With one pull, the steel crescent tore through the beast's limb and twisted it off, leaving the rent appendage to fall to the ground beside it and slowly dissolve into ash. The creature stumbled and fell over from the shock, flailing in confusion as the three boarbatusk came in once more for another assault.

Renee simply huffed. "Great, now I have to deal with you three-" she paused as a thought occurred to her, and a small smirk started to creep over her face.

She ran forward just as the swine lined up and readied themselves for another round, but rather than meeting them directly, she leapt onto the downed ursa and jumped from on top of it, momentarily baffling the primitive minds of the beasts. She went sailing over the largest of them with a spin, but just as she was over it's head, she flung out one of her hook blades, which extended on its wires once more and linked around one of the grimm's curled tusks. It held fast there and allowed the teen to reel herself in, where she threw out her feet and landed on top of the creature, lashing out at the other tusk with her second blade to make a set of reigns, which she pulled up on.

Needless to say, the beast didn't take too kindly to being mounted like a common mule, so it began to buck wildly in an attempt to throw off its newfound rider, though it wasn't likely to be broken any time soon, so Renee wasn't going to be riding it to victory. Instead, she simply began to wrestle with it, giving the blades a good yank one way or the other whenever she wanted to direct the tireless demon or make it rear up on its hind legs.

"Hahaha!" the whole time, Renee was laughing jovially.

While not an effective mount, it was clearly a capable bulldozer, as made evident when it drew closer to its kin. The other boarbatusks were unable to make heads or tails of the situation, seeing as this sort of behaviour was clearly unusual for most prey, so they didn't think to move out of the way when the larger of their brethren drew close. As a result, the careless beast stomped down hard on the spine of one creature, snapping it in a similar manner to the tree branch that crushed Renee's earlier foe. Still, the large beast took no notice of its collateral damage as it continued its rampage in an attempt to throw off its spontaneous jockey. It spun until its rear was facing the other beast and flung out its hind legs, kicking it in the flank and sending it hurtling into a tree, where its spine broke and it was rendered inert, fading into smoke alongside its fellow pig-beast.

Sadly, the escapade had to come to an end for Renee, seeing as she had a goal to accomplish, so with a quick movement, she drew back one of her blades and aimed it at the back of the demon's neck, where there was a small unarmored area. She fired a few rounds and the kicking stopped as the beast died, falling forward and flinging the girl off it and into the air.

Having expected that, the faunus flipped in the air and twirled, before landing on her feet, her hands up and her feet together to make a "Y" pattern with her body, the blades pointed straight up. "Hehe. That was fun." she grinned cheekily.

Another shadow rose up behind her, and she turned to face it. "Now what to do with you?" asked the girl, observing as the one-armed ursa once more stood to face her.

*Whoosh! Bam!*

Suddenly, two red balls of fire launched into the creature's flank, illuminating the area in a crimson glow as they vaporized it's entire right half.

Turning to the side, Renee gave a small, cocky smirk. "I had it." she quipped as she witnessed a short figure step out of the bushes.

She recognized it as Alistair's petite acquaintance from the lunch room that morning, though the cloak was now held slightly open to reveal that it held in its grasp a small, golden khopesh **(1)**. The curved weapon had four red triangles on the blunt back of the blade, pointed towards the sharp edge which softly radiated a similar color, though the energy soon faded and left it looking like a common weapon, if unusually ornate.

Renee looked at the deadpan eyes of the stoic figure with a curious glance, though she kept her cool and greeted them with a friendly smile. "Oh, you're Alistair's friend." she stated, grinning as she approached the small individual "I guess this means we're partners, doesn't it?"

When she got no answer, she looked down oddly at the individual in question, only to find them staring back up at her with a blank expression.

"…"

Perturbed by this, Renee attempted to hold out her hand in greeting. "Uhh, hey. My name's Renee LeChance. And you are…?"

The person simply disregarded her and, to the brunette's disappointment, simply turned and walked northward. _'W-Was it something I said?'_ she asked herself with a worried frown.

After the person was several meters away, however, they stopped and turned back to her, staring with that blank glance, much to the confusion of the young faunus.

"…"

They stood in place for a while, staring at eachother, and when it was evident that the short person wasn't going to be moving any time soon, Renee quirked a brow. _'Are they… waiting for me?'_ she asked herself as she made another attempt to approach them.

Her theory was proven correct when she was only a few feet away, and the short individual continued their forward trek, easily keeping pace with the taller hunter.

Where most would find this behaviour annoying, if not outright deplorable, the fox-girl simply grinned. _'At least I didn't offend him… her?'_ she thought to herself in confusion.

After a moment, she shrugged. _'Ah well. Plenty of time to figure it out. I mean we have four years together.'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**And that's a wrap!**

**Whew, took me a few days to figure out how I was gonna do Alistair's fight with the ursa pack, but after that it was smooth sailing. Didn't have nearly as much trouble with that last fight.**

**On that subject; Renee found her new partner! That mysterious little person in the hat and cloak. Who are they under all that? Who knows? Maybe I don't even know.**

**But in all seriousness; I am really sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Like I said, my job drained me for the first little while, and once I got back into the swing of things, Divinity got my attention, and with that popularity, mixed with the roll I was on, I couldn't just stop at one chapter!**

**That said; I would hope you're all looking at my page for other stories I may have written, but I get if not everything I put out is your cup of tea. To each their own.**

**Anyways, onto other news!**

**I have been getting a massive influx of ideas, and because of that, I have various other fics planned. **

**Oh, but don't worry about this one; I'm excited for season 3 of RWBY and that hype train has been enough to smash through recent writers blocks and carry us all into a whole new set of updates! But hopefully **_**this**_** hype train isn't exploding behind us and being followed by hungry grimm. That would be bad.**

**Either way; you can expect numerous updates for numerous fics some time in the near future. And if you haven't seen it yet, I would suggest that you check out Divinity, seeing as I'll be updating there as this chapter comes out, then hopefully back to Ashes for the next chapter.**

**Now, on to some comments:**

**Sunbro: **I never said anything about pairings, so nothing is concrete. I don't even know what they'll end up being in the end. All we know is that, at this point in the story, Alistair is anti-relationship and Renee already has a boyfriend.

Will that change? Maybe. There's a lot of fanfic left ahead, and either Roosterteeth or myself can easily add any number of other characters along the way.

**Flood:** I'm not so sure that brunette is used _specifically_ for females; it seems a bit odd that the English language would have gender-specific words and terms, especially for hair colour of all things. That said, the English language does a lot of stupid things, so who am I to talk?

Looking it up online, it says that it is applied "Especially" or "Typically" to women, not that it's strictly in reference to females. That said, I'll concede that it does sound like a very feminine word, so I'll probably stop using it as much for Alistair.

**That aside, I'm glad that you're all enjoying this fic enough to keep coming back. And once again, I'm sorry about the lack of updates recently. I know it gets annoying, but I've been on both sides of the page, as writer and reader, and I know that if a fic is good enough to read, it's good enough to wait for an update. **

**Though, seeing as it literally takes no effort on your part apart from clicking a box, I see no reason why it should be an issue to sit around and wait for an occasional update.**

**And to any of you who are likely worried about me abandoning it; know that I never abandon a story, and that when I start a job it is because I am confident that I can finish it and I plan to see it through to the best of my abilities. Barring something horrible like being trampled by a horse or something like that…**

**Knock on wood?**

**Once again; I would like to point out that the popularity of a fic (As measured by the number of comments) is the main deciding factor on how quickly updates come relative to other fics. I'm doing this for you guys as much as for myself!**

**Anyways, I'm done now. Thanks for sticking with me and reading my content. I really appreciate it.**

**I'll see you all in the next chapter! Buh-Bye!**


	7. Apologies and a Competition!

From Ashes

An Apology and a Competition!

**Hey there, so, I bet you're all a bit… utterly pissed off. Yeah… I can understand.**

**Basically, I've been lacking any sort of motivation to write RWBY fanfic and with how successful my other story has been, I had to focus on that. I mean, I chose to do so, but that's because of the established rules of popular priority, and the fact that I've actually had numerous bursts of inspiration… it's a long story.**

**But before I get onto the subject, I want to let you know that I'll be including a scene between some of my oc's just to tide you over. It will also be followed by a contest I'm holding. See below for more information.**

**Anyways! I'm just updating to let you know I'm going to be doing some rewrites for this story!**

**H-Hey! Hold your tomatoes!**

**Now don't worry, I'm only doing chapter 1 and the prologue right now, ****and**** I'll even be releasing the newest chapter alongside the updates! So no need to get all uppity about the whole affair, m'kay?**

"**But Amethyst!" I hear you cry "If that's the case, then why are you wasting time with this hiatus note and not actually working on the ****GODDAMN CHAPTER!?"**

**Well, my extremely volatile friend, I figured that I'd let you know in case you all wanted to give some input in the process. Don't get me wrong, I have a plan all set out, but if any of you wanted to give me your ideas for the fic, let me know and you might see your suggestions put into the story.**

**That's right, I want you- yes **_**you**_**\- to give some input into the rewrite, so I can get community opinion on the story and make this a more interactive experience for everyone involved!**

**Before you get into airing your grievances, I'll only be making minor changes to the story itself, and I will be depending on you to bring up anything you take issue with in order to improve the story further.**

**The list of changes being made will include;**

**Some minor changes to the power of the oc's: I tried to keep them from being too OP, but in the process made them actually inferior to the cannon RWBY characters, which I know is sort of the point, given that the two teams are supposed to be the main focus, but I still feel like the oc team is a bit weak, even for regular Beacon students.**

**Dialogue, (mainly on Alistair's part): I don't think I quite got the intended personality when I was writing him, and with the prologue, I feel like I may have made him come off as a bit emo, which we all know isn't true, but you know what they say about first impressions. **

**Also, I had him say "milady" early on with the intent of making it sarcastic, yet fitting for his personality given his old-timey speak, but it made him come across as a hipster neckbeard, which we can all agree is… less than favourable.**

**Alright, now with all that aside, I've put something **_**very**_** special for you at the end of the chapter!**

**Now, I know you're all getting excited, but I won't be getting to that just yet. Instead, I think I should just give you a few quick points on my guidelines for how this rewrite is going to play out. ("quick" by my standards.)**

**Also, keep in mind I have my own plan, so if I don't take a suggestion, it might just be because my own ideas are taking priority. This doesn't mean it's bad or anything, but it means that I might just be sticking to my proverbial "guns" on this story.**

**That said, it's just a loose framework of events I want to happen, so anything that deviates from that idea is something I'll either ignore or try to alter to suit the story. With your permission, of course.**

**Cannon****: **For those of you who don't know, I don't like disrupting cannon events or "facts" if I can avoid it, so keep that in mind. Now, with RWBY not being anywhere even close to complete, I understand it's impossible to account for future episodes, which may contradict something I've put in my story. Because of this, I've gone ahead and put the fic in a slightly different AU, in which I can make mistakes and not have to delete the whole bloody thing to rewrite it from scratch.

That said, try to keep any suggestions you make close to the cannon, (or at least within reason for the universe) and avoid direct contradictions with established lore. On that subject, I will probably also have to play "favourites" with ideas if one that I like contradicts another, so be forewarned.

**Pairings:**I dislike breaking up cannon pairings as well, but if you feel like two characters are better suited to being together, which may or may not include oc's, then feel free to let me know. Please note that I will request an actual reason for them to get together; a good, logical reason that makes real sense based on the situations the characters find themselves in.

**Harems:**When I said _two_ characters in the above rule, I meant it. I'm not, under any circumstances, going to make this a serious harem fic! Including reverse-harem where one woman has many men pining for her. Though, I might add the presence of fangirls/boys for comedic effect if I feel like it works, like with team SSSN for example, seeing as they're based on a boyband, just don't expect any actual romance or sexuality from the situation.

I get it if you're into that stuff, because so am I quite frankly, but the cannon story just doesn't set that sort of tone, and I've already got another fic you can check out for that sort of thing. I don't want to be known for smut- at least not _just_ for smut-, so sorry for dashing your hopes of seeing Alistair in a threesome with Ruby and Penny…

That said; someone draw that… _Seriously_.

**Events:**I intent to have much of the story take place between the cannon episodes, resulting in a much less choppy timeline. I mean, the first two or three seasons are supposed to take place over a year, yet by the beginning of the second arc they've already established a certain status quo, with Cardin bullying Jaune and being a typical high school jackass. They know and interact with each other, and have had time to build up relations, positive or otherwise.

Because of this, I'm willing to take suggestions for events that might take place between arcs. Nothing major or world changing, but maybe an encounter or a minor event that you'd like to see happen sometime before the grimm invasion in season two. After that point, I'm not sure what will happen, but I might include a number of unused ideas after the Vytal tournament.

Again, try to keep this within the established cannon, but don't be afraid to get creative with it, seeing as this is an AU. I have my own ideas too, as stated previously, so don't be too upset if I don't use your ideas.

**Crossovers:**As you know, this is set in an alternate universe, and as such the potential for crossovers is not just possible, but almost guaranteed… for a later story.

For now, I want to keep this specifically within the world of Remnant, and while there might very well be references later on, I will be not be deviating from RWBY at this point. Though, I am interested in hearing ideas, so feel free to leave a brief comment if you have any thoughts on that front.

**Criticisms:**Go HAM. Seriously, don't hold back; I need all the help I can get, and even if you see something "wrong" with the fic and don't have any idea how I could fix it, at least bring it to my attention so I can make an attempt to fix it myself. Just don't take that as an excuse to get lazy, because you know it'll make things infinitely more simple for me if you actually give me some advice. The more details the better.

**Finally, I want to point out that there is ****No time limit!**

**This means that even after I put up the chapter, I am still willing to take ideas and put them to use, so if you feel like you have an amazing suggestion that just **_**has**_** to be said aloud, then just leave it in the comments or a pm. What do you have to lose, really?**

**Well, that's it for the rules for now. Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments of the story so I can take a look at them, even if it's blatant criticism, because let's face it; I care about your opinion…**

**Unless you disagree with me. In which case you are wrong.**

**Anyways, I'll shut up and give you what you came here for. Please enjoy this rough scene from the latest in-progress chapter of "From Ashes"**

**And don't forget to stay until after the chapter to see that special thing I had in store for you all!**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

*Clap, clap, clap, clap.*

The teen smirked as he heard the applause. "Ya like the show?" he grunted, looking over his shoulder at Alistair, who was now standing amidst the carnage of the clearing.

"I must admit, your brutality is certainly unmatched by most others in our year." said the young engineer, walking over to the fallen corpse of a beowolf, the entire upper torso of which had been twisted around to face its rear. "It is quite impressive."

The man chuckled, turning to face Alistair fully, prompting him to do the same. "Well that's good ta' hear. There were- like- seven other pansies who and ran when they saw me." he said, giving a laugh. "Hell, I think one of them pissed himself."

Alistair quirked a brow at that. "So that explains that puddle." he muttered. "Well, you'll have none of that from me." he assured, holding out his right hand as the taller male approached. "Alistair Greyfield. A pleasure."

Now that Alistair got a good look at him, he could see that the man was clearly not human. His torso was bare, revealing that his forearms, shoulders, and back were covered in dark green scales that, from what Alistair could see, were like sickles and upward-facing, creating an interlocking sheet of armored biological chainmail. The sheet of scales on his back went down to the small of his back, ending in a point between his kidneys, with a pair of prongs on either side coming out from the side of the pattern, where they wrapped around his body and arced into two stripes of green under his ribs. The rest of his body was human enough, though.

He was tall and well built, clearly displaying the results of his time spent at the gym in the form of thick muscles that flexed and strained under pale skin and scales as he moved, and they certainly weren't just for show, if his strong grip were anything to go by.

His hair was black and styled into a greasy fauxhawk, though it could have just been slick with sweat from fighting so hard, and it was starting to fall down in places, framing his eyes, which were a brass colour with flecks of green in various intervals and narrow, reptilian pupils.

The taller man gave a wide grin, filled with sharp, angular teeth that looked more at home in the mouth of a shark than in a human being. "The names Sylvan." he introduced, the outstretched hand more-or-less disregarded. "Sylvan Greenhill."

"Greenhill, eh?" Alistair said, turning to face what was left of the carnage as the remaining grimm evaporated, sans one large ursa laying off to the side. "Well, I see us getting along well enough."

The taller male smirked. "Same here." he replied, walking over to the said carcass, grasping a large handle that was protruding from its flank.

*Riiiiip!*

With a wet tearing sound, he jerked the weapon free from the beast.

The handle of the weapon was large enough that most men would grip it with two hands, and was comprised of a black metal wrapped in deep red leather. The cross guard came down in front of the wielder's knuckles like the basket of a rapier or the hand guard a saber. Said guard was also wrapped in the red leather, though there were four white spikes protruding from between the wraps, curved downwards in a manner that resembled sharp teeth, protruding from the jaws of a predator. The back end of the guard came out straight, like that of a longsword, and seemed to have a second grip on it.

While the handle and guard seemed to resemble those of an oversized falchion, the blade itself was double-edged, and totally straight until a few inches from the tip, where it curved in to form a point. It was a little over twice the width of a human arm, and was as long as the man was tall, though he lifted its girth effortlessly with a single hand, the silvery metal of the blade glinting in the light of the sun, poking through the forest canopy.

Of course, to call the weapon a blade would be inaccurate; it was serrated, like a double-edged hacksaw the size of a man, made for tearing and shredding, rather than simply cutting. In the center, of the blade, where the fuller (central groove) would normally be found, there was simply a black nozzle, similar to that found on a barbeque lighter, set in front of a red metal cylinder that connected directly to the handle.

"But, now that means we've got a bit of a problem." the reptilian man said, bringing the weapon to bare in a one-handed stance, his other hand resting loosely at his side.

Alistair's brow quirked as he turned back to look Sylvan in the eye. "A problem?"

"Yeah." the taller male said. "See; I'm not too keen on takin' orders from anyone, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to concede to someone's…" he paused for a moment, trying to get a feel for what he was going to say. "Better judgement." he finally said after a moment of

contemplation.

"The catch is…" a smirk split his face "I'm not following some pasty nerd to my death. So, ya' gotta prove you're worth following." He made his point by hefting up his huge weapon and slamming it into the ground before him, a fissure forming on his

Alistair's left arm began to crackle with electricity. "That sounds simple enough." he quipped with a small, cocky smirk on his face. "However, I think I have a better idea."

This seemingly piqued Sylvan's interest. "What kind of idea?"

"A competition." Alistair said simply, flexing his fingers.

The tall faunus was confused by the comment. "What sort of-"

***Raagh!***

He was interrupted when a beowolf leapt from the nearby brush and attempted to split open Alistair's belly, only to find its snout punched into the back of its skull when the said teen simply lashed out behind him almost casually with an ironclad punch that danced with sparks.

The grey-eyed inventor smirked devilishly. "Whoever kills the most wins leadership?"

A similar expression made its way to Sylvan's face. "Ohh, I like the way you think." he said, spinning around and bisecting another beowolf with his sword as it attempted to get the drop on him while he was distracted.

"One all." the inventor said, turning around to face his other enemies as the rest of the grimm pack burst from the forest. "Let's see how long that lasts."

One large beowolf stood at the fore of the lot, staring down the two potential prey items with a fierce snarl, aggression and hunger flaring in its eyes.

"Big fucker's worth two?" suggested Sylvan, and Alistair chuckled in response.

"Seems fitting." he said, before readying for the fight. He paused for a moment. "Wait… does he seem singed to you?"

***Grraahh!***

The monster snarled, and the others took it as a sign to attack.

Then they pounced.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX **

**And there you have it!**

**Well, I've got precious little to actually say, though I will tell you now that any comments and questions will be replied to next chapter, once that's released.**

**Now, onto the contest!**

**See, I was thinking that Beacon can feel a bit… empty if we're just focusing on the main characters of the story. Those being my own oc's in this case.**

**I figured with team RWBY out doing their own thing, and many of the cast being non-existent for the most part (sans JNPR), we'll need more supporting characters, right?**

**So… I decided to flesh out the population of Vale. Which is where you come in!**

**That's right! I want you all to come up with your ****own**** original characters for me to integrate into the story!**

**This isn't restricted to Beacon academy either; I'll gladly accept ideas for townspeople, businessmen, and even notable white fang members/criminals for the oc's to interact with. If you want to make a group of students from the local civilian school, go ahead. If you want to make up a small business run by a family of unique characters, go ahead. If you want a unique team in Beacon academy, then by all means, make it so.**

**As with the above AN, though, we have a few guidelines that I have to set in place. This is just to establish the very limited rules on what you can and can't do with your characters. Keep in mind that these rules pertain more to their place in the world than to the characters themselves.**

**So go ahead and get creative with their personalities.**

**With that said, let's start here with the same subject as before**

**Cannon:** The inclusion of these characters can't interfere with cannon. This means they can't use straight-up magic, they can't have more than one semblance (Unless some cannon event changes that), and they can't disobey established rules of the show or the universe therein. This is an AU, but I'm only making some changes to events, and I won't be taking too many liberties.

That said; your characters can coincide with the events that I make happen in the story, as well as the cannon RWBY storyline, so if something in my story isn't cannon, then you can use that as a guideline for creating your characters.

**Organizations:** If you want to establish an organization for the character to be a part of, then feel free; it could be anything from a street gang, to a private detective agency, to someone from the homeowner's association.

The only restrictions are that these organizations must not be large enough to cause any real societal shift (such as the white fang), they can't have any real governmental power that can affect anything beyond maybe minor story events, and whatever group they're part of has to be completely separate of any established faction. This means you can't say "Cinder made this other criminal organization, but dropped them, and now they're in Vale."

That won't fly.

**Relationships:**I don't have any real limits on what you want to do with your characters and their relationships with other people. The main thing I take issue with is if you try to have the character actually know someone from before the cannon events of the story.

This means you can't say that Yang had some childhood friend, or that Weiss had someone from back in Atlas. This goes doubly for romantic relationships, since it would just be bad if some random guy comes in and suddenly says Ruby and he were dating back in Signal.

Of course, if you want to make a character who's infatuated with another character, then that's your call, and I can easily introduce them as a secret admirer. If the personality fits, then I could even have them form a couple with someone in the story itself, but don't be horribly surprised if things don't turn out the way you initially wanted when making these characters. Infatuation isn't always mutual.

This also includes any sort of known familial relations, such as cousins, sisters, uncles, etc.

Though, I would also like to note that I _am_ accepting people with past relations to my _own_ OC's, so if you want to write in a character who grew up in the same village as Alistair, or ran the streets with Renee in her youth, then I will take a look at them. Just know that I might alter certain notes on the new characters to match the backstories on my own characters or to coincide with certain events in the past. This exception doesn't extend to romantic relationships.

**Origins:** Because of the unstable nature of Remnant's population outside of the four kingdoms, there aren't many limitations for the origins of your OC's, as long as you keep within the lore and don't make them some sort of godlike legend.

They can probably be a local legend _in their own village_, or maybe someone whose reputation is born of superstition, akin to a "chosen one" but they can't outshine the main characters. Stand beside them, sure, but not surpass them. Also, try not to have them big superstars known across the world on the scale of Pyrrha right from the get-go.

You can make that the character's eventual goal, but that level of fame at the onset of the series is a bit outrageous, especially since nobody's ever really heard of or mentioned them before.

**Personality:** You can do literally anything you want with the character's personality, but it won't have any bearing on anything else. For instance, just because a person acts like a badass, doesn't make them immensely powerful, and likely results in embarrassing situations when they try to take something on that they can't handle.

Though that would be funny.

As you've seen from Alistair, I'm also not adverse to a dark past, but I wouldn't suggest you make the main character too emotional, dark, or gritty. This can lead to the typical "bland as beige paint" character that, when compared to their colourful surroundings, leads to something of a flop in the character department.

If I could make a suggestion; in the event you input a character like this, then I think you should make them more of a gag or parody character; an over-the-top running joke whose role in the story is basically to contrast the rest of the cast humorously.

**Skills and Powers: **Do I even _need_ to talk about this? The character can't be too powerful for their age group or rank.

This means that all first and second year students are going to be inferior to Pyrrha on the battlefield and will at absolute _most_ be an intellectual match for the more intelligent of students at Beacon, such as Blake or Weiss.

That said, they can be extraordinary at one select field, but be either very much lacking or average in other subjects. Basically, just keep your oc's either balanced or underpowered, depending on the character you're going for. Keeping in mind that Jaune is actually considered underpowered in the cannon.

If it helps, think of the individual in question as a character for an RPG, where you only have a limited number of points that you can assign to any given talent, such as math, science, battlefield etiquette, etc.

This doesn't mean that there isn't room to grow, however, as your oc has the potential to develop and learn over time depending on the situation and their personality.

**Character Blending and Changes:** If I see a character I like certain characteristics of, but see a bunch of flaws in their personality or backstory, then I might feel the compulsion to take the characters I like, and either substitute the negative points or blend them with other OC's that have certain aspects that I like in the first character's weaker areas.

Alternatively, if you want to input a single student attending Beacon Academy, then I could potentially take other single characters and smash them together into a new team.

Actually; this could be an interesting experience, seeing how characters made by multiple different people interact with each other. There are some interesting possibilities there.

**Inspirations:** Anyone who has watched the series knows that all characters are influenced by historical figures, classical literature, fairy tails, pop culture, or internet memes. If you can somehow influence your oc's in a similar way, then it would help me in keeping to their personality and behavioural tendencies simply because if I have any question, I can simply look back at their influences.

For instance, I could base a character off the Roman emperor Nero, then I would be limited to a certain set of features, such as a pyrokinetic semblance, some outlandish arrogance, and other known features of the man. Similarly, someone based off Leonardo Da Vinci will be curious to an almost "heretical" level and may be considered a bit of an outcast, though he will still be a diligent worker and a knowledgeable man.

These characters can also be parodies of their counterparts, so if you were to base someone off the Greek hero Heracles, then he could potentially be some super-strong meathead with the personality of a jock or a stereotypical "lifting bro" if not a total mental incompetent.

Just keep in mind that this is _not_ strictly a requirement and you can feel free to work without any outside influence whatsoever. It would just help me in figuring out their personalities in tough situations, and might help you in designing them.

**Numerical Limit:** I try not to limit anything either I or my "fans" do, so I'll say that you can submit any number of characters that you want, but I'll only choose up to four or five from each person, if I like the characters.

This keeps things more-or-less balanced and will prevent people from spamming a bunch of half-baked oc's that can be summed up in a single sentence. These are your characters and you only have so many slots to fill, so put as much effort and detail into them as you possibly can.

**Format:** I don't give two shits how you want to display your characters to me, this is your choice and if you want to put their characteristics in any specific order, go ahead.

Keep in mind, though, that I'll be using my own discretion in judging your comments. This means that if you submit five characters in one, huge, run-on sentence, I probably won't go through the hassle of trying to discern what that mess says and will just skim over it, if not skip it entirely.

My suggestion; separate each character into their own specific paragraph, have their name separated from the description by a colon so I can read that first, and use periods and commas liberally to break up the description and make it more palatable.

Again, remember that this is your best shot at keeping my attention.

That said; I'll be skipping over most comments I don't like, so if you feel like I skipped your comment for one of the above-mentioned reasons, then you just have to re-submit the character profiles with a more organized format that I can read and I probably won't tell it's a resubmission.

**Alright, so with all that said, now I'm done. **

**Go ahead and leave your comments in the comment section, your pm's in the pm section, and your hate comments somewhere off to the side where I can ignore them and/or read them at my leisure just for the entertainment value.**

**I can't really say much else about the fanfic itself, so I'll just leave you with this;**

**Check out my page if you haven't yet, and try reading one of my other fics, two of which are relatively new now.**

**Thanks for stopping by, I'm looking forward to reading your comments. And with no further stalling; Buh-bye for now!**


	8. A Letter of Apology

A letter of apology

Now, for those of you who keep up with my stories regularly, I think you're already aware that I've recently been on a long and unexpected hiatus, which I honestly wish hadn't been the case, but writer's block is back worse than ever before, thanks to a shocking drain of inspiration. Also, dislocating my arm may have had something to do with it.

Fortunately, I have had the time to review all my stories and do a lot of internal searching, as well as a few read-throughs of my admittedly limited library of previous works. As such, I have come to a conclusion. I need to do some editing.

The majority of my stories are lacking in their earlier chapters and need to be redone, which is why I'm releasing this in any story this applies to.

Essentially, I'm returning to fanfiction at least for a while due to a sudden resurgence of my muse, who seems to have taken a bit of a holiday, and I am now going to ease myself into the hobby again by rebooting most of the stories on my channel, be it with a few minor tweaks, or by gutting it entirely and just keeping the parts I really like about the original works.

Part of the reason for this brief glimmer of returning inspiration is that season 3 of young justice is coming out soon, and I happen to have planned a story about the series earlier! As such, the reboot will be coming out alongside another project.

Before you all worry I'm spreading myself too thin; I need to explain that my stories come from inspiration, not through forcing myself to generate content, which results in crappy products like the previous chapter of Divinity. I think the main issue was that I was trying to force out the chapter so I could get to work on the new story before my inspiration was sapped.

You see, I've seen people concerned that I might be forcing myself to make more stories, resulting in numerous projects being released at a time, but the real issue is quite the opposite, in that I have too much in my head at once and not focusing on what inspires me at the time tends to distract from whatever project I'm trying to work on otherwise.

I hope this can quench my thirst for the dc universe and maybe allow me to apply the newfound energy to other projects without that idea getting caught in the pipeline and blocking further inspirations.


End file.
